THE TRIBE OF THE ANGLE-WINGS 169 



loose bark, or with a flashlight searching the interiors of 

 hollow trees to find between November and April living 

 specimens of this butterfly. Such a discovery would be a 

 real service to science and should at once be made known 

 through some scientific journal. In Europe there seems 

 to be a belief that the insect hibernates partially at least 

 in the condition of the chrysalis. 



The Life-story 



While we may not know just where the butterflies have 

 been throughout the winter, we do know that in southern 

 New England they begin to be seen in fields and along 

 roadsides about the middle of May. Many of the speci- 

 mens then have a ragged appearance which is a pretty 

 good indication that they came from the chrysalis the fall 

 before and have been lying concealed through all the weeks 

 since. These butterflies lay their small greenish, barrel- 

 shaped eggs on the leaves of the thistle. The mother 

 butterfly chooses the location rather carefully and de- 

 posits only one egg upon a leaf. The butterflies continue 

 thus to visit flowers and to lay eggs until about the middle 

 of June when apparently they perish. 



About a week after the egg has thus been laid, it 

 hatches into a small spiny caterpiUar which does not take 

 the trouble to devour its egg shell as so many other cater- 

 pillars do. Instead it crawls around to the lower side of 

 the leaf and gnaws off enough of the silken surface of the 

 leaf to furnish material for making a webby covering, 

 the leaf particles being woven together by threads from the 

 caterpillar's mouth. In this way the little creature soon 

 provides itself with a snug enclosure which serves it as a 

 temporary home. It remains in this home much of the 



