THE NYMPHS 



tected by shape and color as is the butterfly. The 

 species is double-brooded in the North, and at 

 least three-brooded in the South. It is a North- 

 eastern species, extending south to North Car- 

 olina and Tennessee. 



Fluttering like some vain painted butterfly 

 From glade to glade along the forest path. 



Arnold. 



The Gray Comma 



Polygonia progne (Pol-y-go'ni-a prog'ne) 



Plate XXIII, Fig. 7, 8 



In its general appearance this butterfly closely resembles 

 P. comma, but it can be readily distinguished by the form of 

 the silvery mark, which is L-shaped and tapers toward the 

 ends. 



Two forms of this species occur, the lighter form, P. progne 

 progne, in which the ground tint of the upper surface of all of 

 the wings is concolorous ; and the tail at the end of vein M 

 of the hind wings tapers gently with the tip broadly rounded. 

 And the darker form, P. progne l-arge?itum, which has the 

 hind wings obscured above with dusky tints ; the submargi- 

 nal series of fulvous spots nearly obliterated; the L-shaped 

 mark of the lower side slenderer, with the longitudinal limb 

 much shorter than the other, by which it approaches more 

 the exact form of an L, or is wholly obliterated ; and with the 

 tail at the end of vein M 3 of the hind wings almost trian- 

 gular. The difference in color between these two forms is 

 not as marked as in the case of the two forms of the violet-tip. 



143 



