164 BUTTERFLIES 



life-history of any peculiarity of the food plant which has 

 a protective value. The Painted Beauty is an excellent 

 illustration of this. The caterpillar feeds upon the leaves 

 of the common Everlasting or Gnaphalium. This is an 

 abundant and widely distributed plant, found along road- 

 sides and in fields and pastures. It is notable for the 

 woolly covering on stems, leaves, and flowers — this dry, 

 hairy surface being so evident that the flowers will ap- 

 parently continue in blossom when they have dried, hence 

 its common name Everlasting or, as the French call a 

 similar flower, Immortelle. (See plate, page 161.) 



The utilization of the hairs upon the leaves is begun by 

 the mother butterfly when she lays her egg upon the upper 

 surface, pushing it down among the hairs so that it is almost 

 concealed. Should you be fortunate enough to find one 

 of these eggs you would see that it is a small, yellowish 

 green object, looking like a tiny barrel with several 

 vertical ribs upon its surface. A few days after the egg 

 is laid it hatches into a minute caterpillar that begins eat- 

 ing off the hairs where they are attached to the leaf, in 

 such a way that it soon has a free space beneath a bunch 

 of these hairs which it has more or less matted together 

 by means of silken thread. The little caterpillar has 

 thus provided for itself a protecting nest that effectually 

 conceals it from birds or other enemies. It now begins 

 feeding upon the succulent surface of the rather thick leaf, 

 where it has removed the hairs. After several days of 

 such feeding it moults, still under the shelter of its hairy 

 covering. This process of moulting and feeding continues 

 for two or three weeks, the caterpillar occasionally making 

 a new covering as needed for its food supply. 



The later nests are likely to be made by folding two or 



