Chrysalis.—The chrysalids have the head more or less bifid. There is a prominent thoracic tubercle, and a double row of dorsal tubercles on the abdomen. Viewed from the back they are more or less excavated on the sides of the thorax. In color they are generally some shade of wood-brown or greenish.
The caterpillars feed for the most part upon the Urticaceæ, plants of the nettle tribe, such as the stinging-nettle, the elm, and the hop-vine, though the azalea and wild currants furnish the food of some species.
The genus is confined mainly to the north temperate zone.
(1) Grapta interrogationis, Fabricius, Plate I, Fig. 3, [male], under side; form fabricii, Edwards, Plate XIX, Fig. 1, [male]; form umbrosa, Lintner, Plate XIX, Fig. 2, [female]; Plate III, Fig. 23, larva, from a blown specimen; Fig. 27, larva, copied from a drawing by Abbot; Plate IV, Figs. 21, 22, 24-26, 40, chrysalis (The Question-sign).
Butterfly.—Easily distinguished by its large size, being the largest species of the genus in our fauna. The fore wings are decidedly falcate, or sickle-shaped, bright fulvous on the upper side, spotted and bordered with dark brown and edged with pale blue. On the under side they are mottled brown, shaded with pale purplish, and have a silvery mark shaped like a semicolon on the hind wings. The dimorphic variety umbrosa, Lintner, has the upper side of the hind wings almost entirely black, except at the base. Expanse, 2.50 inches.
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.
This is one of our commonest butterflies. It is double-brooded in the Middle States. It hibernates in the imago form, and 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.