Comma, home

The Polygonia butterflies—the species named after punctuation marks—have been conspicuously absent in the late afternoon sun motes they favor, but in the past few days, I've started to notice them again. Their reappearance has sent me back to the books and the Internet, because the Eastern Comma and the Question Mark are, at first glance, remarkably similar species. One sure field mark is the punctuation that adorns the back side of the hind wing: either a silver comma or a question mark. But if this isn't visible, you have to examine, very closely, that line of dots in the middle of the forewing. There are three in a row in the Comma, four in its questioning cousin. This one poses a question of its own: three or four? It's hard to tell, and in such situations, the observer either has to go with the gut, or live with uncertainty. For the time being, I'm opting for the latter.