_Early Stages._--These have been frequently described, and the reader who wishes to know all about the minute details of the life-history will do well to consult the pages of Edwards and Scudder, who have written voluminously upon the subject. The food-plants are the elm, the hop-vine, and various species of nettles.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIX | | | | 1. _Grapta interrogationis_, Fabricius, | | var. _fabricii_, Edwards, ♂. | | 2. _Grapta interrogations_, Fabricius, | | var. _umbrosa_, Lintner, ♀. | | 3. _Grapta comma_, Harris, var. _dryas_, | | Edwards, ♂. | | 4. _Grapta comma_, Harris, var. _harrisi_, | | Edwards, ♂. | | 5. _Grapta silenas_, Edwards, ♂. | | 6. _Grapta silenus_, Edwards, ♂, | | _under side_. | | 7. _Grapta hylas_, Edwards, ♂. | | 8. _Grapta hylas_, Edwards, ♂, | | _under side_. | | 9. _Vanessa j-album_, Boisduval and | | Leconte, ♀. | | 10. _Grapta gracilis_, Grote and | | Robinson, ♂. | | 11. _Grapta gracilis_, Grote and Robinson, | | ♀, _under side_. | | 12. _Grapta faunus_, Edwards, ♂. | | 13. _Grapta faunus_, Edwards, ♂, | | _under side_. | | 14. _Grapta satyrus_, Edwards, var. | | _marsyas_, Edwards, ♂. | | 15. _Grapta satyrus_, Edwards, var. | | _marsyas_, Edwards, ♂, _under side_. | | | | [Illustration PLATE XIX.] | +--------------------------------------------------------------+
This is one of our commonest butterflies. It is double-brooded in the Middle States. It hibernates in the imago form. When the first warm winds of spring begin to blow, it may be found at the sap-pans in the sugar-camps, sipping the sweets which drip from the wounded trunks of the maples. It ranges all over the United States, except the Pacific coast, and is common throughout Canada and Nova Scotia.
(2) =Grapta comma=, Harris, form =dryas=, Plate XIX, Fig. 3, ♂; form =harrisi=, Edwards, Fig. 4, ♂; Plate III, Fig. 38, _larva_; Plate IV, Figs. 27, 29, 30, 39, 46-48, _chrysalis_ (The Comma Butterfly).
_Butterfly._--Dimorphic, in the form _dryas_ with the hind wings heavily suffused with black, in the form _harrisi_ predominantly fulvous. Expanse, 1.75-2.00 inches.
The caterpillars feed upon the _Urticaceæ_, and are very common upon the nettle. They vary greatly in color, some being almost snow-white. This species is found throughout Canada and the adjacent provinces, and ranges south to the Carolinas and Texas and over the Northwestern States.