West Coast lady it lacks obvious ventral eyespots on the hindwings; there are two large ones on "V. virginiensis" and four small ones on "V. cardui". Like the latter, it also lacks a white dot in the pinkish-orange subapical field of the ventral and dorsal forewings. Its upperwing coloration has the purest orange of the three; the American painted lady is usually quite reddish. A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. These are usually of roughly equal size in "V. cardui" and lack blue centers, though the summer morph may have a few tiny ones.
Julia and Vanessa Kapatelis to name their unborn child "Nessie" after the local Scottish creature the Loch Ness Monster. Though humored, Julia did not agree but settled on Vanessa as a close substitute. Julia remained married to David until his death 22 years into their marriage when Vanessa was five years old. He died while exploring ruins in Egypt. Deciding to make a fresh start Julia took Vanessa to live in the U.S. where she eventually became the Dean for the Department of History and Geology at Harvard University. They currently live in the Beacon Hill section of Boston, Massachusetts. While at Harvard Julia