166 BUTTERFLIES 



more beautiful than the upper, and furnishes a striking 

 example of flower-picturing. There is a little fulvous 

 background near the middle of the front wings, but the 

 rest of the surface is spotted and striped with blotches 

 and circles of gray and brown in a most intricate design. 

 On each front wing near the outer angle are three indistinct 

 eye-spots in a row, and on the outer half of each hind wing 

 there are two bull's-eye circles, one smaller than the other, 

 which form the most conspicuous feature in the marking of 

 the insect. 



When full grown the caterpillars are a little more than 

 an inch long with a general color of velvety black, marked 

 with fine yellow lines and more or less covered with bristly 

 spines. There is also a distinct row of whitish spots along 

 each side beginning a short distance back of the head. 



This is a widely distributed butterfly, occurring from 

 Canada to the Southern states and beyond. In most 

 northern regions it seems to be two-brooded, the butter- 

 flies commonly hibernating as adults; but sometimes the 

 winter is passed in the condition of the chrysalis. Along 

 its southern range there are three and perhaps four broods 

 each year. 



The Painted Lady or the Cosmopolite 



Vanessa cardui 



Our story of this beautiful butterfly ought really to begin 

 with that of one of the most successful plants in the world. 

 Now a plant is successful from its own point of view when 

 it is able to multiply abundantly in many different sorts 

 of situations and to spread easily over a large area. The 



