Comma Butterfly on Oak Bark Coloring Page

The trunk is what makes this sheet. It runs from the bottom left corner up to the right edge at a steep diagonal, and its surface breaks into long vertical furrows that twist as they climb, perhaps forty separate strips of bark to work through.

Clinging to it, wings fully open, is a butterfly with an unmistakable outline. Its wing edges are not smooth curves but a series of notches and points, like paper torn rather than cut, and a chain of small beads follows every one of those indentations. The forewing cells are long and few; the hindwings carry a wide beaded hem and a scalloped skirt.

Behind the head two slim twigs rise out of frame, each carrying four or five pointed leaves, and a single leaf drops away at the lower left.

A comma takes its name from a small white mark on the underside of the hindwing, shaped close enough to the punctuation to be useful. When the wings close the insect becomes a dead leaf, notches and all, which is why you rarely spot one at rest.

Browns and rusts suit the insect. Keep the bark light or the butterfly disappears into it.