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Genus Polygonia

The four immediately following species belong to the genus Polygonia. Of all the angle-wings these most deserve the name. They look as if Mother Nature had with her scissors snipped the edges of their wings, fashioning notches and points according to the vagaries of an idle mood; and polygons they surely are. The upper sides of the wings have a ground color of coppery red, marked with velvety borders and spots, the design being similar in all the species.

IO The under sides of the wings are marked and marbled with beautiful and intricate patterns in browns that vary from reddish to seal, and in grays of all shades; and each hind wing bears wrought in shining silver an "initial" which characterizes the species. In flight all these butterflies follow a zigzag course, so swiftly that the eye can scarcely follow them. They frequent woodsy paths and roads and are likely to alight on the trunk of a tree or on the ground and close their wings, the variegated browns of the under surface rendering them almost invisible. The caterpillars are spiny, and the head is sometimes adorned with a pair of thorny spines. The chrysalids are angular, usually the color of dead leaves, and are made inconspicuous by both colors and pattern.