THE BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



179 



butterflies which flit along the road- 

 sides in spring. Others are blackish 

 or bluish above, often with two or 

 more fine, threadlike tails extending 

 from the hind-wings, and are marked 

 with fine, hairlike streaks on the under- 

 surface, which has given them the 

 name of " hair streaks." The larvae 

 are quite different from other cater- 

 pillars, being flat, elliptical in outline 

 (with the head retracted), and quite 



sluglike in appearance. Very few of them 



are ever injurious, the worst offender being 



the cotton-square borer (Uranotes melli- 



nus), which bores into cotton squares and 



occasionally attacks beans and cowpeas by 



eating into the pods. 



The four-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae) 



include most of our common larger forms, FIG. 270. The acadian hair- 



and are so called on account of the great streak (Theda acadica Edw.), 



underside of female 



FIG. 269. The bronze copper 



butterfly (Chiysophanus thoe 



Boisd.), female 



(After Fiske) 



(Photograph by Fiske) 



reduction of the fore-legs ; this makes 



them of no service in walking, and the 



legs are folded on the breast. The common monarch, or milk- 

 weed, butterfly (Anosia 

 plexippus), whose green, 

 black-ringed caterpillars 

 feed upon the foliage of 

 the milkweed, is a good 

 example of the family. 

 The spiny elm caterpil- 

 lar, already described (see 

 p. 63), also belongs here. 

 The dark, reddish-brown 

 butterflies of the hop mer- 

 chant (Polygonia comma] 

 are of interest, for when 



FIG. 271. The cotton square-borer (Uranotes 

 mellmus}. (All somewhat enlarged) 



, dorsal view of butterfly ; 6, butterfly with wings -u r i j ^ ra p-p- e( i 

 closed ; c, larva (side view) ; J, pupa. (After Howard, 



United States Department of Agriculture) 



edged wings and alight 



