Pairs of Ragged Wings

A butterfly calendar

Large or Common Grass-yellow (Eurema hecabe, Pieridae) laying eggs on Breynia, Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland, Australia. © Bronwen Scott.

When the rain stopped and the wind dropped and the sun peered from behind the clouds, this ragged butterfly came to the garden to lay her eggs. She was a Large Grass-yellow (Eurema hecabe, Pieridae) and her chosen host was a native Coffee Bush (Breynia, Phyllanthaceae) sown by birds. Her wings tattered and frayed, this was probably her last act. She carried it out diligently. Over twenty…