140 ^ HOW BUTTERFLIES 



be considered as abnost characteristically pertain- 

 ing to the temperate zone, where the winter is 

 pronounced, pass the winter in the imago state. 

 One reason for this is that there is nearly always 

 an autumn brood of butterflies which disport . 

 themselves in great numbers in the latter part of 

 the year, but have not time to undergo further 

 transformations so as again to reach the chrysalis 

 staofe before winter would cut them off ; but in 

 some instances some of the chrysalids which 

 should produce the autumn brood do not give out 

 the butterfly until the following spring. Accord- 

 ing to Wiesenhiitter such chrysalids of the 

 Mourning Cloak (Euvanessa antiopa) as pass the 

 winter are presumably females, inasmuch as the 

 female, according to his observation, is generally 

 fresh- colored in the spring, whereas the males are 

 always very much battered and worn. So far as 

 we know, in the case of these wintering butterflies, 

 pairing always takes place in the spring. 



Those hearing for the first time of the existence 

 of butterflies in winter naturally inquire where 

 the butterflies may pass the winter period. Each 

 species has its own peculiar hiding-places, but in 

 general they may be found beneath piles of rocks, 

 in hollow places in the trunks of trees, especially 



