HOUSE AND GARDEN 
J ULY, 
igi i 
31 
fields from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In our 
garden the caterpillar fed upon the nasturtiums 
and mignonette, and in that state was not as 
attractive as when dancing like a spirit over the 
flower beds. 
His brother, the Colias philodice, brightened 
our garden from spring to fall. We are all 
familiar with this little “Friend of the Way- 
side,” or the “Puddle Butterfly” of our child¬ 
hood. Though apparently all alike the butter¬ 
flies reveal, upon close examination, great diver¬ 
sities. They are generally found in pairs, the 
male with a rather severe black border to his 
wings and two decided black dots on the upper 
edges, while my lady has a clouded or shaded 
black border, wider at the tip of the upper wings, 
and ornamented with irregular spots and dashes 
of yellow. Two orange-colored eyes are found 
in the centre of the lower wings. Some varie¬ 
ties have a narrow rose-colored edge and shade 
into emerald green cn the under side of the 
wings ; but beautiful as they are when flying, the 
Vanessa Antiopa or Mourning Cloak has velvety, maroon wings with a cream colored 
border. He comes with the first warm weather and stays on until winter 
Papilio turnus, the Tiger 
Swallow-tail, paid a visit 
from the alders in the park 
nearby 
1 
The Skipper with uplifted wings shows his 
silver medal with pride. Above him is his 
battered Admiral 
little green cater- 
p i 1 lars, whose 
natural food is 
the clover, are 
among the most 
d e structive of 
the garden pests. 
The Basil- 
archia astyanax, 
or Red-spotted 
P u r pie, might 
easily be mis¬ 
taken for the 
Papilio troilus, 
so similar are 
they in color, 
unless one ob¬ 
served the ab¬ 
sence of the long 
swallow-tail ap¬ 
pendages. The 
upper color is 
nearly all black, and it has much the 
same peacock blue border to the 
lower wings; but when you turn it 
over, you discover where it gets its 
name of Red-spotted Purple, for 
here are found numerous orange-red 
and purplish spots in great variety of 
shapes forming a continuous border, 
on the lower wings. The caterpillar 
of this butterfly feeds upon the wil¬ 
low, apple, cherry, or linden, and cuts 
away the leaf on each side of the 
mid-rib until it is of the proper 
width to form a tube-like cradle into 
which the baby butterfly fits, and 
where it passes the winter. 
Two butterflies interested us very 
much: the Vanessa antiopa and the 
Pyrameis atalanta. The Antiopa or 
Mourning Cloak, with its rich vel¬ 
vety, maroon-colored and heavily- 
feathered body and wings with a 
broad cream-colored border, is one 
of the most stately and dignified of our garden visitors. It is 
rather slow in its movements, as befits the solemnitv of its name, 
and can easily be picked with the fingers from a bending flower. 
Vanessa makes its appearance with the first warm March winds, 
a real harbinger of summer days to come, and stays late. A little 
family of six were found the last week in November, nestling 
close together upon a scrap of woolen cloth, trying to keep their 
feet warm. 
It was a sorry specimen of the Pyrameis atalanta or the Red 
Admiral, that found his way into our garden. He must have seen 
hard fighting on sea or land, that brave old Admiral, but he still 
wore gallantly his epaulets of red, and though his under wings 
were in tatters, and bore the traces of many battles with the 
winds and waves, he was a gallant fighter, and died hard, leading 
us a long chase up and down the garden before he was finally 
captured in the folds of the white net. Perhaps his diet of nettle 
and hop had tended to make him high-spirited and courageous. 
It was a singular coincidence that on the same day when the 
Admiral came to our net, the Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyrus 
tityrns ) followed in his wake. Possibly the Skipper and the 
Admiral had embarked on their long voyage together, never 
(Continued on page 52.) 
Papilio troilus might be mis¬ 
taken for Basilarchia (top 
of page 30) but for his 
swallow-tails 
