170 BUTTERFLIES 



time when not eating, going out occasionally to feed upon 

 the green tissues of the adjacent parts of the leaf. 



This first home of the young caterpillar, made as it is as a 

 flat blanket upon a flat surface, can be used only by a 

 very small larva. Consequently, the caterpillar soon finds 

 these quarters too cramped and it deserts them to make a 

 new home with larger space. This second nest is com- 

 monly made on the upper surface of a leaf, the edges of 

 which are likely to be more or less drawn together and 

 other supports connected from other leaves or a near-by 

 stem. The caterpillar continues to use this nest number 

 two as a place for remaining when not feeding and for 

 protection during the process of moulting. But even this 

 larger nest is likely to be given up about the time the 

 caterpillar becomes half grown, and a third nest is begun 

 in the upper part of the plant. This is likely to be very 

 commodious, its walls being made of leaves or stems 

 bound together by a silken web. Within this the cater- 

 pillar completes its growth, going out and in through one or 

 more doors when it wishes to feed. Sometimes it even re- 

 mains within this nest during the process of changing to 

 the chrysalis, hanging downward from the upper part in 

 much the same way that the caterpillar of the Painted 

 Beauty butterfly does. In case it leaves the nest when 

 fully developed it generally finds a place nearby in which to 

 pupate. 



About ten days after the caterpillar has changed to a 

 chrysalis it changes again to the adult butterfly. In 

 southern New England these butterflies appear about the 

 middle of July and lay eggs soon afterward, these eggs 

 hatching into butterflies that change to chrysalids and 

 change again to butterflies late in August or early in Sep- 



