ORDER IV.—MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 201 
their caterpillars are covered with tender bristles, and some 
species live in large numbers together, as, for instance, those 
of 
The Mournine-cLtoak (Vanessa antiope), Fig. 49. The 
Figure 49. 

The Mourning-cloak. 
wings of this butterfly are a sort of purplish-black color, 
dogted with blue spots, and surrounded with a nankeen-col- 
ored border. Its ¢aterpillars are also black and thorny, 
and are frequently seen in large numbers, during the months 
of May and June, on our birch, poplar, elm, and several 
other trees, the foliage of which they entirely destroy, strip- 
ping off their leaves until they look like mat-weed. The 
thorny-looking hairs with which their bodies are covered 
are not at all venomous, as many have supposed, and they 
may be handled with impunity; although they are so inju- 
rious to our ornamental trees, it is advisable always to kill 
them, which may easily be done by sprinkling the tree and 
branches with dilute soap-suds, by means of a hand-engine 
or otherwise. 
As this butterfly produces two broods during one sum- 
mer, the caterpillars will have to be destroyed twice in a 
season. When these creatures are fully grown, and nearly 
12 
