LEPIDOrXERA. 241 



their escape by eating little holes through the sides of the 

 chrysalis. They arc ever on the watch to lay their eggs on 

 the caterpillars of this butterfly, 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 transverse 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 dis- 

 tinct 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 parrot'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 



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

 takes, has redescribed this old and well-known species under the name of 

 Vanessa C. argentcum. 



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