FEEDING HABITS OF THE BUTTERFLY 135 



When the warm days no longer tempt them abroad the 

 Monrning Cloak Butterflies seek shelter in many sorts of 

 situations, — under loose bark, in hollow trees, under culverts 

 4ind bridges, in woodpiles, in crevices of rocks, alongside logs 

 lying on the ground. In such retreats they remain until the 

 sunshine of spring again calls them forth. 



FEEDINTx HABITS OF THE BUTTERFLY 



The Mourning Cloak Butterflies subsist upon a consider- 

 able variety of liquid food which they suck through their 

 long tongues. In spring, when they first come from their 

 winter quarters, they visit the stumps of recently cut trees 

 and suck the exuding sap, a habit which they continue when- 

 ever opportunity offers. Mr. Fiske has noticed that they com- 

 monly sip the sap of maple twigs where the squirrels have 

 gnawed the bark. A little later they visit the willow catkins 

 to suck the nectar secreted by these blossoms, and still later 

 they hover about the delicate blossoms of the mayflower or 

 trailing arbutus for a similar purpose. Probably many 

 other flowers are thus rifled of their sweets, although this 

 butterfly seems to be a less regular visitor to flowers than are 

 many of its allies. A little later, when the aphides or plant- 

 lice have become sufficiently abundant so that the so-called 

 ^'^honey-dew" is to be found upon the infested shrubs, these 

 Mourning Cloaks sometimes sip the liquid sweet from the 

 surface of the leaves. In April and May they occasionally 

 visit the flowers of moosewood, and later in the season have 

 been observed upon the blossoms of the common milkweed. 

 From the time the early apples ripen these butterflies may 

 often be seen beneath the orchard trees sipping the liquids 

 of the fallen and decaying fruit. 



POPULAR NAifES OF THE BUTTERFLY 



In Germany this butterfly is called Trauermantel, from the 

 translation of which is derived the common American name, 

 Mourning Cloak. Its other common name with us, Antiopa 

 Butterfly, is derived from its Latin name, — Vanessa antiopa. 



