24 



STORIES OF INSECT LIFE. 



The caterpillars moult or cast their skins several times during 

 their growth, huddling together on a branch for this purpose, 

 and leaving behind a spiny mass of skins when the process is 

 completed. 



The full-grown caterpillar of the mourning cloak butterfly is 

 represented natural size in Fig. 24. Its general color is dull 

 black ; the head is more or less tinged with bronze. Begin- 

 ning with the third ring behind the head there is along the 



Fig. 24. — Caterpillar of Antiopa Butterfly. 



middle of the back a row of good-sized orange red spots. The 

 larger legs are of a somewhat similar color. Along each side 

 of the back are rows of blackish barbed spines, 

 giving the caterpillar a formidable appearance. 

 These cateri:>illars beconle full-grown in 

 June. Each then seeks some shelter where it 

 changes to a chrysalis of a yellowish brown 

 color, about an inch long (Fig. 25). It remains 

 in this condition about two weeks. Then it 

 -Chrysalis of comes forth as a butterfly. 



These midsummer butterflies soon deposit 

 their eggs for another brood of caterpillars which go through 

 their changes and become butterflies in September. It is this 

 brood of mourning cloaks that pass the winter in sheltered places. 



Fig. 25. 

 Antiopa Butterfly. 



