THE ATALANTA BUTTERFLY. 
295 
its head while eating. It begins with the extremity of 
the folded leaf, and eats downwards, and, as it gradually 
consumes its habitation, it retreats backwards, till at last, 
having, as it were, eaten itself out of house and home, 
it is forced to abandon its imperfect shelter, and con- 
struct a new one. This is better than tbe first ; for the 
insect has become larger and stronger, and withal more 
skilful from experience. The sides of the larger leaf selected 
for its new habitation are drawn together by silken threads, 
so that the edges of the leaf meet closely and form a light 
and commodious cavity, which securely shelters and com- 
pletely conceals the included caterpillar. This in time is 
eaten like the first, and another is formed in like manner. 
At length the caterpillar, having eaten up and constructed 
several dwellings in succession, and changed its skin three or 
four times, comes to its full size, leaves off eating, and seeks 
a suitable place in which to undergo its transformations. 
The young caterpillars are almost black ; the full-grown ones 
measure about one inch and a half, are generally of a brown 
color more or less dotted with white, with a black head, 
rough with elevated white points, with white branching 
spines on the back, and on each side there is a row of 
yellow crescents. The chrysalis is gray, with a whitish bloom 
upon it like that on a plum, and the little pointed tubercles, 
on its back are gold-colored. The chrysalis state continues 
about ten days, or longer if the weather be cool and wet. 
The butterflies from the first brood appear in July, and from 
the second in September. 
In the butterflies belonging to the genus Vanessa, the 
wings are jagged or tailed on the hind edges. The under 
side of the hind wings, in many, is marked with a golden or 
silvery character in the middle ; the feelers are long, curv- 
ing, and contiguous, and form a kind of projecting beak. 
The head of the chrysalis is deeply notched or furnished 
with two ear-like prominences ; the sides are very angular ; 
on the middle of the thorax there is a thin projection, in 
