Birds and all Nature, Vol. IV, No 3, September 1898

<h2><SPAN name="BUTTERFLIES" id="BUTTERFLIES"></SPAN>BUTTERFLIES.</h2> <div> <ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/initial_i.jpg" width-obs="59" height-obs="125" alt="" /></div> <p class="drop-cap">IT may appear strange, if not altogether inappropriate to the season, that "the fair fragile things which are the resurrection of the ugly, creeping caterpillars" should be almost as numerous in October as in the balmy month of July. Yet it is true, and early October, in some parts of the country, is said to be perhaps the best time of the year for the investigating student and observer of Butterflies. While not quite so numerous, perhaps, many of the species are in more perfect condition, and the variety is still intact. Many of them come and remain until frost, and the largest Butterfly we have, the Archippus, does not appear until the middle of July, but after that is constantly with us, floating and circling on the wing, until October. How these delicate creatures can endure even the chill of autumn days is one of the mysteries.</p> <p>Very curious and interesting are the Skippers, says <i>Current Literature</i>. They are very small insects, but their bodies are robust, and they fly with great rapidity, not moving in graceful, wavy lines as the true Butterflies do, but skipping about with sudden, jerky motions. Their flight is very short, and almost always near the ground. They can never be mistaken, as their peculiar motion renders their identification easy. They are seen at their best in August and September. All June and July Butterflies are August and September Butterflies, not so numerous in some instances, perhaps, but still plentiful, and vying with the rich hues of the changing autumnal foliage.</p> <p>The "little wood brownies," or Quakers, are exceedingly interesting. Their colors are not brilliant, but plain, and they seek the quiet and retirement of the woods, where they flit about in graceful circles over the shady beds of ferns and woodland grasses.</p> <p>Many varieties of the Vanessa are often seen flying about in May, but they are far more numerous and perfect in July, August, and September. A beautiful Azure-blue Butterfly, when it is fluttering over flowers in the sunshine, looks like a tiny speck of bright blue satin. Several other small Butterflies which appear at the same time are readily distinguished by the peculiar manner in which their hind wings are tailed. Their color is a dull brown of various shades, marked in some of the varieties with specks of white or blue.</p> <p>"Their presence in the gardens and meadows," says a recent writer, "and in the fields and along the river-banks, adds another element of gladness which we are quick to recognize, and even the plodding wayfarer who has not the honor of a single intimate acquaintance among them might, perhaps, be the first to miss their circlings about his path. As roses belong to June, and chrysanthemums to November, so Butterflies seem to be a joyous part of July. It is their gala-day, and they are everywhere, darting and circling and sailing, dropping to investigate flowers and overripe fruit, and rising on buoyant wings high into the upper air, bright, joyous, airy, ephemeral. But July can only claim the larger part of their allegiance, for they are wanderers into all the other months, and even occasionally brave the winter with torn and faded wings."</p> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</SPAN></span></p> <table class="sp2 mc w50" title="BUTTERFLIES." summary="BUTTERFLIES."> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter"> <SPAN name="i_040.jpg" id="i_040.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%" src="images/i_040.jpg" width="446" height="600" alt="" /></SPAN></span> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">&nbsp;</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">BUTTERFLIES.&mdash;Life-size.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Melitæa chalcedon.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">Papilio thoas.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Limenitis arthemis var. lamina.</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Thecla crysalus.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">Papilio philenor.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Cystineura dorcas.</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Anthocharis sara.</td> <td class="x-smaller ac w40">Argynis idalia.</td> <td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Thecla halesus.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <hr class="chap" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</SPAN></span></p> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />