LATE in June, growing abundantly in the edges of 

 woods throughout this region, may be seen the 

 Cimicifuga racemosa of botanists, popularly called Rattle- 

 weed, or Black Snakeroot. It sends up a stalk, sometimes 

 branching, four or five feet, terminating in a spike or spikes, 

 six to ten inches long, of round, greenish-white buds, which 

 stand upon short stems, and are arranged in rows about the 

 stalk, diminishing in size till they reach the pointed top. 

 The lower buds, when they are about the size of an ordinary 

 pea, open first, and the flowering proceeds by degrees up the 

 spike, so that buds are to be met with throughout a period 

 of from four to six weeks. The flowers emit an intensely 

 sweet odor, which renders them attractive to butterflies 

 and bees. 



But should you examine these buds with care, you will 

 find a number of small caterpillars, the larva of the beautiful 

 Azure Butterfly, called Lyccenapseudargiolus, feeding thereon. 

 During its younger stages it is white, and so near the color 

 of these buds that it is well protected, and very difficult to 

 find. Later on, it may be white or greenish, and often 

 diversified with a few black or brown patches, irregularly 

 diffused over the surface. 



When mature the larva is one-half of an inch in length, 

 and, like all Lycsenid larvae, is onisciform, or shaped like the 

 little pill-bug, so common under stones and logs. The head 

 is very small, and is placed on the end of a long, green neck, 

 which at the junction is of the thickness of the head, but 

 gradually enlarges, and seems to be fixed at the hinder part 



