THE TRIBE OF THE FRITILLARIES 123 



ous will generally be the Great Spangled Fritillary. This 

 butterfly is easily recognized by its large size and its 

 combination of two colors of brown, with whitish or 

 silverish spots scattered over the lower surface of the 

 wings. 



The life-history of this insect is of peculiar interest on 

 account of the way in which it passes the winter. The 

 mother butterfly remains upon the wing through many 

 weeks in summer, so that toward the end of August or 

 early September a large proportion of the specimens have 

 a decidedly frayed appearance. They are patiently wait-^ 

 ing for the season of the year when they can deposit their 

 eggs, apparently knowing by instinct that this must not 

 be done until early autumn. When the proper season 

 arrives they lay their eggs upon the leaves or stems of wild 

 violets, apparently without much reference to the par- 

 ticular species. Sometimes they have been reported 

 simply to drop the eggs loosely upon the violet plant 

 with no attempt to fasten them in place. Having thus 

 deposited the eggs the mother butterflies soon die. 



It would not seem strange if these eggs remained un- 

 hatched until the following spring, but the fact is that the 

 eggs hatch very soon into small caterpillars that eat off 

 part of the shells in order to escape and sometimes eat also 

 part of the shell remaining after they have emerged. 

 Various good observers have apparently established the 

 fact that these tiny caterpillars eat nothing else before 

 winter sets in. It seems curious indeed that they should 

 not nibble at the leaves or stems of the violet plants in 

 order to be slightly prepared for the long fast that awaits 

 them before they will find food upon the young buds the 

 following spring. The case is somewhat similar to that of 



