coloration. Look for it in open areas around. marshes, fields and 
     
     roadsides. The spring azure and the silvery blue are similar in size to 
     
     the coppers; the upper surfaces of their wings are brilliant blue. 
     
    

    
     The Nymphalidae are a large group of medium to large sized 
     
     butterflies. They are fast, strong fliers whose front legs are reduced 
     
     in size and useless for walking. The painted lady is the thistle 
     
     butterfly, although, its larvae will feed on other composites. It is so 
     
     widespread that it has another common name, the cosmopolite. It is 
     
     medium sized, orange-brown and brownish-black above, with four small 
     
     eyespots on the underside of the hind wing. Also, very common and widely 
     
     distributed is the red admiral; its caterpillars feed on nettles. The 
     
     butterfly disports itself in sunny places. Fritillaries are smaller to 
     
     medium sized brownish butterflies with numerous intricate black markings 
     
     on the upper side of the wings and silvery spots on the undersides. They 
     
     are powerful fliers in marshy meadows, open spaces and along roadsides. 
     
     The butterflies are eager visitors to flowers; the larvae feed on violets 
     
     and goldenrods. Our common species include the great spangled, the 
     
     silver bordered, the Atlantis and a number of lesser fritillaries, 
     
     including the beautiful Baltimore, an intensely local butterfly which 
     
     never strays more than a hundred metres from its host plant in swampy 
     
     areas. Anglewings are small to medium—sized and have wings whose 
     
     irregular outlines would suggest that they had been inexpertly trimmed 
     
     with scissors. The colour on the upper wing surface is brownish and 
     
     black markings, while the underwings are darker, resembling a dead leaf. 
     
     Nettles and elms provide food for larvae; the butterflies are attracted 
     
     to sap. Specific anglewings include the 
     
     question mark, or violet tip and the comma, BNMU 
     
     or hop merchant, both are so named because 
     
     of peculiar silvery marks on the underwing. 
     
     If anglewings are denizens of forest or 
     
     orchard, the Viceroy is a butterfly of open 
     
     spaces, meadows and roadsides. Its flight 
     
     pattern includes a period of flapping 
     
     followed by gliding on horizontal wings. 
     
     Many people know this reddish-brown, black 
     
     striped butterfly as a mimic of the 
     
     distasteful monarch butterfly. Monarchs are 
     
     rare to PEI; they do not belong to the same 
     
     family as the Viceroy. The white admiral or 
     
     banded purple is dark purple to black, with 
     
     a broad white band across the wings. It 
     
     will be found in July in or near open 
     
     hardwood stands, flying up and down a glade or road, or perching high in 
     
     a tree. The mourning cloak, by contrast, is the first out in the spring 
     
     and the last to go in at autumn. It is brownish-black with yellowish 
     
     wing margins; the host plants include elm, rose, willow and poplar. 
     
    

    
     The Satyridae are the meadow browns, the wood nymphs and the satyrs, 
     
     all favourites of outdoor people because they haunt open woods and grassy 
     
     glades, alight with summer sun. They, too, are medium-sized butterflies, 
     
     the background colour of whose wings is grey or brown, frequently 
     
     decorated with eyespots which may be placed within a yellowish band. 
     
     They are erratic, dancing flyers. The eyed brown, or common grass nymph, 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Mourningcloak Butterfly, Yellow Edge 
     
    
   
   
    
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