THE BUTTERFLY HUNTERS. 85 



" It is not a butterfly," said he, as the boys gathered 

 round to look. 



"O no," said many voices at once, "it is nothing but a 

 Devil's Darning-needle." And they all laughed at Frank 

 for throwino^ his net over one of those thin.^s. 



" It is almost as pretty as a butterfly," said Frank, " and 

 I am going to take it to the teacher to-night." He took 

 out his little bottle of ether, and, with Tom's help, he soon 

 subdued the insect and secured it to a cork in his box. 

 It was very pretty, as Frank had said, with its long, slen- 

 der, black body and four gauzy wings. 



When the boys had seated themselves round the tree, 

 and were eating their luncheon, Hal asked what butterflies 

 they had for the class that night, adding that he had none. 



"There is my Hunter's butterfly I carried last time, and 

 then the Darning-needle," said Frank. 



"The Darning-needle is very important of course," said 

 Ben. " I am afraid if we depend upon you, Frankie, to 

 supply us with specimens, Mr. Benedict might as well give 

 up the class. Fortunately I have some new ones I caught 

 yesterday after school." 



Gilbert had some too, so they concluded that would be 

 enough. 



"There is Rose coming down the lane," said Ben; "let 's 

 all go and meet her." The boys gathered up the remains 

 of their luncheon and started towards the house. 



