THE SEMICOLON BUTTERFLY. 
299 
with a pale gold-colored semicolon on the middle of the 
hinder pair. 
Expands from 2^ to 2J inches, or more. 
The paly-gold character beneath the hind wings has much 
more nearly the shape of a semicolon than of a note of 
interroo-ation i* for which reason I have called this the semi- 
colon butterfly, instead of translating the specific name. It 
first appears in May, and again in August and September, 
and is frequently seen on the wing, in warm and sunny 
places, till the middle of October. The caterpillars live on 
the American elm and lime trees, and also on the hop-vine, 
Fig. 124. 
and on the latter they sometimes abound to such a degree as 
totally to destroy the produce of the plant. In the latter 
part of August the hop-vine caterpillars come to their full 
growth, and suspend themselves beneath the leaves and 
stems of the plant, and change to chrysalids. This fact 
affords a favorable opportunity for destroying the insects in 
this their stationary and helpless stage, at some loss, however, 
of the produce of the vines, which, when the insects have 
become chrysalids, should be cut down, stripped of the fruit 
that is sufiiciently ripened, and then burnt. There is prob- 
[ * This butterfly received its name from the Greek note of interrogation, which 
is identical with our semicolon. — Ed.] 
