PREHISTORIC BOTANISTS. 129 
the artful tented leaf and the presence of the butterfly, 
the gray spotted and spiny caterpillar of the Comma + 
Angle-wing. 
To be sure, it may be said that the nettle is not 
a particularly difficult plant to distinguish. Indeed, old 
Culpeper, the herbalist, assures us of 
the fact that “it may be found even, 
in the darkest night by simply feel- 
ing for it.” But such hap-hazard bot- 
any is not the necessary resource of 
our butterfly. The discrimination 
of a nettle, botanically consid- 
ered, requires a much deeper 
insight. How is this insight 
possessed by the Comma? 
Let us see. Yonder on the 
stone wall a clambering 
hop-vine would seem 
to afford a tempting 
sporting-ground for 
a small brood of red 
butterflies. On nearer 
approach they prove to 
be the Comma joined 
by a few near relatives 
equally interesting. 
Here and there our 
careful search dis- 
closes a tented leaf 
precisely similar to 
those already described, 
while beneath we may dis- 
cover the same spiny tenant. 
Continual search reveals a num- 
ber of similar spiny caterpillars, though variously variegated, and 
perhaps a gilded chrysalis or two among the stems and crevices 
17 
