THE TRIBE OF THE ANGLE-WINGS 155 



They hatch into caterpillars less than a week later and 

 these caterpillars feed for about a month, when they 

 change to the characteristic chrysalids in which they com- 

 monly remain for a week or ten days. They then emerge 

 as the summer brood of butterflies, most of them in New 

 England appearing during July. These remain upon the 

 wing for several weeks, the females laying their eggs upon 

 the elm and hop leaves. These in turn soon hatch into 

 caterpillars that change to chrysalids in August and emerge 

 as butterflies late that month or during September. This 

 autumn brood of butterflies is quite abundant for a time 

 but soon seeks the seclusion of winter quarters to remain 

 until the following April. There are thus two distinct 

 broods during the year in the Northern states while as far 

 south as West Virginia there are likely to be three broods. 



These caterpillars at first simply eat small holes in the 

 green substance of the leaf, but as they become larger each 

 takes up its abode on the under surface of a single leaf and 

 makes a sheltered tent in somewhat the same fashion that 

 the Painted Lady does upon the nettle leaf. The cater- 

 pillar eats out more or less of the base of the blade on 

 each side of the midrib, thus weakening the edges so 

 that they can be fastened in a tent-like manner by 

 silken threads. This serves as a resting place from which 

 it sallies forth to feed, commonly only toward the tip of 

 the leaf. As a result it often eats itself out of house 

 and home and has to crawl to another leaf and construct 

 a new shelter. 



While the Comma is generally spoken of as a character- 

 istic northern species it has a very wide range, being found 

 from New England to Texas and from the Northwestern 

 states to the Carolinas. It is one of those species which 



