THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. II 



The teacher stopped and turned to his table. Each boy- 

 had brought his specimen in a neat paper box, on which 

 his own name was written, so that Mr. Benedict might 

 know whose butterfly was the best preserved. He smiled 

 as he looked at some of them, for they were torn, and 

 the down on the wings nearly rubbed off. 



" That 's mine," said one of the big boys, as the teacher 

 laughingly held up one forlorn insect, of which little was 

 remaining save the body and a broken piece of a wing. 

 " I brought it to show you I had tried." 



" Never mind, Gilbert," said the teacher, " to catch the 

 butterfly at all is better than nothing. Only next time 

 you must handle it with more delicate fingers." 



After looking over all that had been brought in, the 

 teacher told the boys that he should make the Antiopa 

 the subject of this lesson, although several boys had found 

 specimens of other early varieties. The Antiopa, having 

 lived over Winter, was properly the first one to be con- 

 sidered. Hal's specimens were very well arranged, but 

 Johnny Webb had found a more perfect insect, so the 

 teacher selected the latter specimen to show to the boys. 



" The Antiopa," said he, " belongs to the genus Vanessa, 

 because the wings are jagged or tailed on the hind edge. 

 The wings expand from three to three and a half inches." 

 He held up Johnny's box in his hand, and all the boys 

 looked eagerly at the beautiful insect expanded in it. 



