LEPIDOPTERA. 221 



ever on the watch to lay their eggs on the caterpillars of this but- 

 terfly, and are so small as easily to avoid being wounded by the 

 branching spines of their victims. 



Vanessa Comma. Comma butterfly, 



Upper side tawny orange ; fore-wings bordered behind and 

 spotted with black ; hind-wings shaded behind with dark brown, 

 with two black spots on the middle, and three more in a trans- 

 verse line from the front-edge, and a row of bright orange colored 

 spots before the hind-margin ; hind-edges of the wings powdered 

 with reddish white ; under-side marbled with light and dark 

 brown, the hinder wings with a silvery comma in the middle. 



Expands from 2} to 2| inches. 



This butterfly very closely resembles the white C. (C. album) 

 of Europe, for which it has probably been mistaken. On a close 

 and careful comparison of several specimens of both together, I 

 am satisfied that the American Comma is a distinct species, and 

 the hinder edges of the wings which are not so deeply indented, 

 will at once serve to distinguish it. I have therefore now named 

 and described it for the first time. The caterpillar lives upon the 

 hop, and, as nearly as I can recollect, has a general resemblance 

 to that of the semicolon butterfly. The chrysalis is brownish 

 gray, or white variegated with pale brown, and ornamented with 

 golden spots ; there are two conical ear-like projections on the 

 top of the head, and the prominence on the thorax is shorter and 

 thicker than that of the semicolon butterfly, and more like a par- 

 rot's beak in shape. The butterflies appear first in the beginning 

 of May ; I have obtained them from the chrysalids in the middle 

 of July, and on the first of September. 



Vanessa Progne*. F. Progne butterfly. 



Upper side tawny orange ; fore-wings bordered and spotted 

 with black ; hind-wings blackish on the posterior half, with two 

 black spots before the middle, and a row of small orange-colored 



* Mr. Kirby, whose work on the insects of North America abounds in mistakes, 

 has redescribed this old and well-known species under the name of Vanessa C. ar- 

 genteum. 



