ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 165 



nevertheless, seen flying about from morning until evening, 

 displaying her beauty to delight the eye of man throughout 

 the day, or floating joyously 

 with her fellows upon the sa- 

 ble wing of night. Her ele- 

 gant dress proclaims her one 

 of Nature's high nobility. It 

 is not a sixpenny or shilling 



calico, the livery of servitude ; ^,^ ^^^^^^.^^^^ ^^^^^.^_ 



nor even a French calico, the 



dress of the modest middle-class in easy circumstances ; but 

 she is clothed with the most gorgeous silken apparel, of 

 which no Miss of our most fashionable boarding-schools, 

 nor even the most dashing and cunning coquette in Paris, 

 would be ashamed. 



This moth has fore wings of a deep yellow color, spotted 

 with black ; while its hind wings are scarlet, bordered with 

 a trimming resembling black lace. The wings expand about 

 one and a half inches. The body is white and covered with 

 black dots. 



Like all of Nature's beauties, this insect makes its home 

 among the flowers. Throughout the summer and early 

 autumn months, along the banks of almost all our inland 

 streams, where grow the golden lilies and white Solomon' s- 

 seals, the sweet-scented roses and blue lupins, with yellow 

 wood-sorrels and azure forget-me-not' s, this little moth may 

 generally be seen flying from blossom to blossom, living on 

 their nectared sweets, and dying only to leave its future 

 offspring there. 



Its caterpillar usually lives upon the plant called in Eu- 

 rope Forget-me-not {Mijosotis arvensis), which grows every 

 where on the banks of springs and brooks, and, presented to 

 a young lady in either France or Germany, is considered 

 ^^une declaration cV amour;'''' but in America this plant is 

 known by the name of scorpion-grass. 



