ATTACKING THE LEAVES. 



47 



behind, shading into reddish towards the front. The urler 

 side of both wings is dark brown, traversed by many gra}'ish 

 lines and streaks, and on 

 the anterior pair there is 

 a very wide band towards 

 the onter edge of a paler 

 color. The wings are very 

 irregular in outline, with 

 many notches and promi- 

 nences; when expanded, 

 they measure an inch and 

 a half or more across. 

 This butterfly passes the winter in the perfect or winged state, 

 hiding in some sheltered nook, where it remains torpid during 

 the winter, awakening to life again with the genial warmth 

 of spring. It may be found very early in the season skip- 

 ping about with a peculiar jerky flight around the openings 

 in woods, occasionally resting on the sunny side of a tree, or 

 stopping to sip the sweet juice exuding from the stump of 

 a freshly-cut tree. 



The eggs are laid on currant and gooseberry bushes, both 

 wild and cultivated, and when hatched the larvae do not feed 

 in groups, but singly on the leaves. When full grown, they 

 are about an inch and a quarter long, and vary in color from 

 a ligiit brown to a dull greenish yellow, with narrow black 

 and yellow lines. The body is thickly covered with long 

 branching spines, which also vary in hue, some being yellow, 

 others orange, and some dark brown, many of their branches 

 being tipped with black. 



When full grown, the larva seeks some secluded spot in 

 which to change to a chrysalis; sometimes the under side 

 of a leaf or twig is selected, and there, after spinning on the 

 surface a small web of silk, its hind legs are hooked in the 

 fibres, and it remains suspended head downwards. The body 

 Boon contracts in length, and in two or three days the cater- 

 pillar skin is shed, and a rugged, angular-looking chrysalia 



