? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

photographed yesterday - June 1, 2009 -- at the Azalea Pond


Murray Head sent me the photo above in an e-mail and wrote, all innocently :

"Would this be a butterfly of special interest?"

I recognized it as a member of a family called Brushfoots, and thought it was either a species called a Question Mark or an almost identical one called a Comma. Since the photo didn't show the little silvery, punctuation-mark-shaped marking on each species' hindwing resembling either a question mark or a comma, I thought I'd better check. I sent the photo to a reliable butterfly expert, and e-mailed Murray back that I'd get back to him soon with an ID.

He wrote back almost immediately : "Thanks for checking... but I did end the sentence with a question mark, didn't I?"

And I thought he was a butterfly beginner! I'll know better next time.