Nymphalis feeding

[Kenelm Philip]

	_Nymphalis milberti_ (Milbert's Tortoise Shell) certainly feeds
at flowers in Alaska. I do not recall having seen _N. antiopa_ (Mourning
Cloak) doing so--and I have not yet seen _N. vau-album_ (Compton's
Tortoise Shell) in Alaska myself, although ALS volunteers have provided
specimens from the Haines area. Note--there is a nice ecological link
between moose and Mourning Cloaks: I have seen Mourning Cloaks in early
spring in Fairbanks feeding on the sap running from the ends of moose-
browsed willow twigs. And one can even say that the butterflies return
the favor: being colonial feeders they affect very few individual willow
plants--and it is well known now that plants can respond to predation
by loading up with distasteful and poisonous chemicals.

	I have seen _Polygonia faunus_ (Green Comma) and _P. satyrus_
(Satyr Anglewing) feeding at dandelions near Haines.

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at aurora.alaska.edu