300 
LKPIDOPTERA. 
ably an early brood of caterpillars in June or July, but I 
liave not seen any on tbe bop-vine before August ; the former 
are therefore confined to the elm and other plants, in all 
probability. The caterpillar is brownish, variegated with pale 
yellow, or pale yellow variegated with brown, with a yel- 
lowish line on each side of the body ; tbe head is rust-red, 
with two blackish branched spines on the top ; and the spines 
of the body are pale yellow or brownish and tipped with 
black. The chrysalis is ashen brown, with the head deeply 
notched, and surmounted by two conical ears, a long and thin 
nose-like prominence on the thorax, and eight silvery spots 
on tbe back. The chrysalis state usually lasts from eleven to 
fourteen days ; but the later broods are more tardy in their 
transformations, the butterfly sometimes not appearing in 
less than twenty-six days after the change to the chrysalis. 
Great numbers of the chrysalids are annually destroyed by 
little maggots within them, which, in due time, are trans- 
formed to tiny four-winged flies ( ' Pteromalus Vrenessce), 
which make their escape by eating little holes through the 
sides of the chrysalis. They are ever on the watch to lay 
their eggs on the caterpillars of this butterfly, and arc so 
small as easily to avoid being wounded by the branching 
spines of their victims. 
Vanessa Comma. Comma Butterfly. 10 (Plate IV. Fig. 1.) 
Upper side tawny orange ; fore wings bordered behind 
and spotted with black ; hind wings shaded behind with dark 
brown, with two black spots on tbe middle, and three more 
in a transverse line from tbe front edge, and a row of bright 
orange-colored spots before the hind margin ; hind edges of 
the wings powdered with reddish white ; under side marbled 
with light and dark brown, the hinder wings with a silvery 
comma in the middle. 
Expands from 2£ to 2jJ inches. 
This butterfly very closely resembles the white C (C 
I 10 V. Comma belongs to the genus Grapta Kirby. — Morris.] 
