136 SEASONAL CHANGES AND HISTORIES. 



as butterflies, and consider, first, the Milk- weed 

 butterfly, or Monarch [see Fig. 106]. It is the 

 longest-lived of our butterflies. It leaves its win- 

 ter-quarters later in the season than other hiber- 

 nating butterflies, and continues upon the wing 

 until July and August, laying eggs all the time, 

 so that the insect may be found in all its earlier 

 stages throughout most of the summer ; the eggs 

 hatch in four or five days ; the caterpillar attains 

 its full growth in two or three weeks, and the 

 chrysalis hangs from nine to fifteen days. Whether 

 or not there is a second brood in New England is 

 doubtful ; but the earliest butterflies which have 

 not hibernated may be found in July, so that 

 while the earlier stages are passed rapidly, the 

 perfect insect often lives a full year, mingling on 

 the wing with its own progeny and witnessing the 

 decay and renewed growth of the plant which 

 nourished it ; for the milk- weed dies early, and is 

 not sufficiently grown to support the caterpillars 

 when the first butterflies appear in the spring. 



The Green Comma (Polygonia Faunus) [Fig. 

 126], of the hill-country of New England, has a 

 history which may serve as an example of most 

 of our angle-winged butterflies. The first warm 

 days of spring lure it from its winter hiding- 

 places, but it is not until the end of May that it 

 begins to lay eggs ; these soon hatch, the caterpil- 

 lars reach maturity by the end of June or later, 



