ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 201 



their caterpillars arc covered with tender bristles, and some 

 species live in large numbers together, as, for instance, those 

 of 



The MOURNING-CLOAK (Vanessa antiope), Fig. 49. The 



Figure 40. 



The Mourning-cloak. 



wings of this butterfly arc a sort of purplish-black color, 

 dotted with blue spots, and surrounded with a nankeen-col- 

 ored border. Its caterpillars 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 arc 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 



T 2 



