HIBRRNATION. 25 



Insects which hibernate in the perfect state do not pair before 

 Spring and are probably not fully developed until after hiber- 

 nation. 



Hive bees, in all likelihood, do not really hibernate. It is 

 well known that they require food during the Winter. 



The assertion has been made, in instancing the delicate 

 adjustments of the natural world, that the plant lice, on 

 whose sweet secretions ants chiefly subsist in inclement wea- 

 ther, become torpid at exactl}^ the same low temperature as 

 the ants themselves. 



One of the most familiar of our Spring butterflies is the 

 ]^a)iessa antiopa, or Mourning Cloak. The wings of this 

 species expand from three to three and one-half inches. 

 Above it is of a rich purple, the wings bordered with yellow 

 and dotted along the inner margin with blue. It is one of 

 few butterflies common to this country and Europe, and has 

 doubtless been introduced on this continent. The Mourning- 

 Cloak passes the Winter in some sheltered place in a torpid 

 state. It has been found in midwinter, sticking to the rafters 

 of a barn, and in the crevices of walls and stone heaps, 

 huddled together in great numbers, the wings doubled over 

 the back and apparently benumbed and lifeless, but it soon 

 recovers its activity on being exposed t9 warmth. ]\incssa 

 comes out of Winter quarters very early in Spring, often 

 before the snow has entirely left the ground, with ragged and 

 faded wings, and may be seen sporting in warm and sheltered 

 spots in the beginning of March and throughout the months 

 of April and May. Wilson, in his beautiful lines on the blue 

 bird, alludes to its early coming : — 



" When first the lone l>ntterfly flits on the wing." 



During the Autumn may be seen in our gardens and fields, 

 and even by the wayside, a caterpillar whose appearance must 

 frequently have arrested attention. It is very thickly clothed 

 with hairs, which are stiff, short and perfectly even at the 

 ends like the bristles of a brush, as if all had been shorn 



