98 



HABITS. 



as if they were beings as distinct as they appear ; 

 indeed, the only connection one has with the 

 other seems to be in the care which the mother 

 butterfly exercises in laying the eggs from which 

 the caterpillar is one day to creep ; and since in 

 most instances this stands in direct relation to the 

 life of the caterpillar, we will commence our 

 account with this point, and illustrate it, as we 

 shall all our future discussions, mainly from the 

 butterflies of our Northern States. 



The butterfly generally lays her eggs singly, 

 although some species deposit in small clusters 

 and others again in great masses. These eggs are 

 laid on the food -plant of the caterpillar, unless 

 indeed the caterpillar feeds on grasses or other 

 common herbage, when the eggs are 

 laid indifferently upon objects near 

 the ground, or, as I believe, in one 

 instance (the White Mountain but- 

 terfly, Oeneis semidea), are dropped 

 loosely upon the soil in the midst 

 of the herbage. The Camberwell 

 Beauty (Papilio Antiopa) chooses 

 in the spring-time the terminal 

 shoot of a willow or elm, and, perch- 

 ing head downward, with closed 

 wings, deposits a dozen or more pale yellow ribbed 

 eggs in a little girdle around the twig, next the 

 petiole of the springing leaf [Fig. 81]. The 



FIG. 81 Clusters 

 of eggs of Papilio 

 Antiopa, encir- 

 cling the twig of 

 an elm ; X 2. 



