328 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



they usually rise and fall in the same vertical line 

 performing a curious aerial dance which is long con- 

 tinued. 



Among the dozen or more butterflies and moths 

 which winter in the perfect state, the most common 

 and the most handsome is the "Camberwell beauty" 

 or ' mourning cloak," Vanessa antiopa L., a large 

 butterfly whose wings are a rich purplish brown 

 above, duller beneath and broadly margined with a 

 yellowish band. It is often found in winter beneath 

 chunks which are raised a short distance above the 

 ground, or in the crevices of old snags and fence rails. 

 It is then apparently lifeless, with the antennae rest- 

 ing close along the back, above which the wings are 

 folded. But one or two warm days are necessary to 

 restore it to activity, and I have seen it on the wing 

 as early as the 2d of March, hovering over the open 

 flowers of the little snow trillium. 



All the species of ants survive the w r inter as mature 



forms, either in their 

 nests in the ground or 

 in huddled groups in 

 half rotten logs and 

 stumps; while here 

 and there beneath logs 

 a solitary queen bum- 

 ble-bee, bald hornet, or 

 yellow jacket is found 



Fig. 99-A Queen Bumble-bee. ~ the sole representa- 



tives of their races. 



Thus insects survive the winter in many ways and 

 in many places, some as eggs, others as larvee, still 



