4 THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. 



" Well, you see, our class in school are just commencing 

 the study of Lepidoptera, and — " 



" Study of what ? " interrupted Tom. 



" Why, don't you know ? The study of butterflies and 

 moths. We catch specimens and take them to our school- 

 teacher, who tells us all about them." 



" Why, do you really catch them in nets "i " 



" Yes. I was out hunting all day yesterday ; but I 

 had n't any luck at all, though I chased a dozen all over 

 the fields. You see we have to begin hunting early in 

 the season, because the various kinds of butterflies appear 

 in different months, and it 's already time for the earliest 

 to be creeping out. Those which come latest in the 

 Autumn crawl into the cracks of barns and sheds, and 

 sometimes into piles of wood, and live there through the 

 Winter, and it is to hunt for these that I am going out 

 to-morrow." 



" What do you do with the butterflies when you have 

 caught them } " asked Tom. 



" O, you '11 see. Rose will make you a net, and then 

 you can go hunting with me. A few tramps over the moun- 

 tain will do you good. As you look now, I would n't give 

 much for you among us country boys at any sort of a game." 



Tom was at first inclined to resent this uncomplimen- 

 tary speech. Though of slighter form than Hal, he was 

 already quite expert in gymnastic games, and his muscles 



