Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-10-26
A BUTTERFLY SWARM MIeRATEs
Every Year One Tree in ST. Paul Has
Been a "Receivina Depot"

From the St. Paul Dispatch.
once again on their annual pilgrim
age. which never has failed in the
last 10 years. thousands of beautiful
monarch butterflies. all the same color
and all the same species, swarmed on
the Limbs of trees in the ward in the
rear of the ON of Mrs. w. ID.
George. Dayton avenue hanging in
great clusters so thick in places the
trees seemed spotted with brown.
They came hundreds i'm a flock. fly
ing as straight as if guided by AN
unseen and Past hosts of other trees
they flew unhesitatingly and with an
unerring instinct sought resting places
on the limbs of the very tree hat has
been the temporary shelter of thou
sands OF their ancestors in years
one by.
More singular was the quest of the
butterflies of former years that had
sought out this resting place over night
on their journey south. Nine years in
succession-so long has Mrs. George
kept account-they came to one partic-
ularly long limb of a box elder in the
yard, literally concealing it With their
clusters.
Other limbs on that tree were ignored
as the butterflies ignored other trees
in adjoining lots. This was their rest
ing place for the night-no other would
do. Unerring they found it, hanging
low to the ground and never did they
leave 1t unit! sunrise.
Last Yea his limb vas cut off, so
when the butterflies returned this year
the old place OF vantage vas gone and
they clustered on the outer branches OF
this and other trees In the yard. But
in the II yard they stayed, loyal
though the old home was gone
What guides them to one spot in st.
Paul Is n scientific mystery made more
inVn1Cn1 hoC91lSa ~ ic So}1 hpfforAioc
live only one year.. hence none from
last year could have guided them this
season to h trees. Mrs. George, who
has watched them for years and has
thousands come n thousands go,
offers no explanation for the ever re-
curing visit.
This butterfly is known commonly
as the milkweed butterfly said A. G..
Ruggies, assistant professor in the di-
vision of entomology OF the state agri-
cultural school 1.-The scientific name
is Anosia plexippus. and it belongs to
the family Lymnadidas. 1t derives its
common name because the caterpillar
from which it comes feeds almost en-
tirely on milkweed.
"These butterflies are nauseous to
birds and hence are able to congregate
as they do with IMMUNITY. They have
a northern migration in the spring and
a. southern in the fall. different from
GAA&A VI 0AANS IA SlAIo VN0y SAAkS lIO e
male butterflies come north about the
time the milkweed begins to grow in
the spring. lay their eggs and die soon
after. Matching from these eggs are
h catcrpillars that feed on the weed,
eventually changing into butterflies.
which fly still further north, where the
females again lay eggs.
And SO generation after generation
is produced. the adults migrating fur
Their and further north. until we find
them late in the season often as far
north as Hudson's bay. In the fall
they gather in great flocks and fly
south.
'They are great ,fiiers ard we know
they car cover 500 miles at least, be-
cause specimens have been taken on
the ocean that distance from shore.
The monarch Is a native of America,
but is now practically cosmopolitan,
being found almost everywhere on the
globe