THE COMMON BUTTl-.KH.il 



239 



beauty is velvety black with cross lines of yellow and with a row 

 of white spots on each side back of the middle. It has bristly 



The Painted Beauty, above, The Cosmopolite, below 



showing under sides of wings at the right. 



Expanse of wings about two and one-half inches. 



spines; it feeds upon everlasting and allied plants. The cosmo- 

 polite caterpillar is mottled, greenish-yellow with black and yellow 

 stripes along the side. It has bristling yellow spines ; its food plants 

 are thistle, willow and everlasting. The cosmopolite has the 

 widest distribution of any of our butterfly species. It is found in 

 every, part of the world except South America and the Arctic 

 regions. 



THE POLYGONS 



These are distinguished from the other butterflies not only by 

 the sharp notches and angles of the edges of the wings, but also by 

 having the hind margin of the front wing cut out in a graceful 

 curve. Each species has on the lower side of the hind wing near 

 the center an initial or punctuation mark wrought in silver, this 

 mark varying with the species. The flight of the polygons is very 



