THE NYMPHS 



ings. It is armed with thorny spines, and has one pair on its 

 head. 



Food-plants. — Nettle, hop, elm, etc. 



At first glance we might take this butterfly to 

 he a dwarf violet-tip. The shape of the wings is 

 similar to that of the violet-tip, and with sufficient 

 imagination one can see the violet margins on 

 them. But the punctuation on the under side of 

 the hind wing is quite different. In this species 

 it is not an inverted semicolon, but looks more 

 like an erratic G, the lower portion of it wander- 

 ing off at an angle. If we hold the butterfly head 

 toward us we can perhaps make of this mark a 

 more or less distorted comma. 



The hop-merchant hibernates as a butterfly, 

 and is one of those which we find dashing about 

 the woods during the first warm days in March. 

 Its flight is a miracle of erratic swiftness. It has 

 much curiosity and a disposition to meddle, evin- 

 cing the same by dashing at anything it happens 

 to see moving ; and it is always more than will- 

 ing to join in any fray. It starts up like magic 

 from the path in front of us, the gleam of its red 

 wings making it seem like a bit of chain-lightning 

 as it zigzags upward over our heads, when we 

 lose sight of it altogether ; but after we pass, if 

 we take note, we will see that it has alighted again 



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