Insects arid Their Relatives 171 



the bamboo pole holding the pine knots, the surface 

 of the pole being smeared bountifully with sugar 

 syrup. 



There was one little cricket that was very hard to 

 catch. It lived about the house and chirped almost 

 continually atter dark, but, when they came near, 

 it backed away in a crack, waving its very long an- 

 tennae bv way ot farewell. 



It was at first rather exciting to hunt scorpions, 

 centipedes, and tarantulas, but there was little dan- 

 ger after their habits were learned. The boys some- 

 times took Edna along at night to catch fire-beetles, 

 which, with two big luminous spots on their heads, 

 lighted up the fields like thousands of tiny candles. 

 Three of these beetles in a bottle or a little cage 

 would furnish light to read by, while a dozen would 

 make a pinguin ball-gown shine resplendent. 



Butterflies 



Butterflies, or"flutterbys" as Snowball called 



them, liked the daylight and rested with their wings 



erect, while their antennae showed little knobs at 



the tips. 



Moths loved the darkness and folded their wings 



flat when at rest, and their antennae were often very 



delicate and feathery, as though fitted for some sort 



of wireless telegraphy. 



