THE GOSSAMER-WINGED BUTTERFLIES 



color with a dusky stripe down the back, and faint oblique 

 markings along the sides of similar color. 



Food-plants. — Flowers of clover and other legumes. 



This species has much purple in its changeable 

 wings, but it is hidden under brown in the wings 

 of the female. The tail, which gives the name to 

 the species, is the merest black thread, but its 

 tip is white and it is much more impressive when 

 viewed through a lens. The tailed blue is in 

 possession of the greater part of America from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Isthmus to 

 the British dominions. It loves overgrown roads 

 and paths, the more neglected the better. It has 

 a rapid, nervous flight and alights frequently. So 

 rapid are its maneuvers in the air that the eye 

 can not follow it. The caterpillar likes best the 

 flowers of its food-plant, and especially enjoys 

 boring into the calyx, although it has been ob- 

 served feeding upon the terminal leaves of clover. 

 The species is triple-brooded. 



Bubble, bubble flows the stream, 

 Like a song heard in a dream. 

 A white-faced hornet hurtles by, 

 Lags a turquoise butterfly — 

 One intent on prey and treasure, 

 One afloat on tides of pleasure ! 



Maurice Thompson. 



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