ORDER IV.—MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 203 
Figure 59. 

The Admiral. 
fore wings, ornamented with scarlet-colored cross-lines and 
white spots, and black hind wings, with a scarlet border 
around them. On the under side of the fore wings some 
singular marks are seen, which resemble the figures 98 or 
86, and which have given rise to many superstitious ideas 
among the ignorant. The female deposits about two hun- 
dred eggs, green and oval, upon the leaves or stems of net- 
tles. In about a week these become little caterpillars, 
which are thorny and black, with bright yellow stripes 
around the body, and which, when fully grown, are about 
one and a half inches long. They walk very slowly, but» 
eat much and grow very fast. As soon as they are devel- 
oped from the egg they begin to spin some of the leaves of 
the nettle together, and thus build for themselves a com- 
fortable dwelling, which at the same time furnishes them 
with food. After consuming their abode they roll up an- 
other in the same way, and thus are actively engaged dur- 
ing the two short weeks of their existence—for this is all 
the time allotted them—until, at its expiration, they are 
fully grown, when they form their cocoons and suspend 
them from some of the branches. As these caterpillars live 
mostly upon nettles and other useless weeds, they are not 
considered as injurious to vegetation. ‘They usually appear 
