Rural School Leaflet 1261 



8. Do you know why the vStriking colors of the monarch butterfly 

 arc an advantage to it? Do you know the viceroy butterfly, which 

 closely resembles the monarch? What advantage is this to the viceroy? 



The caterpillar 



g. On what plant does the monarch caterpillar feed? Do you find it 

 on the upper or lower side of the leaves? Do you think the mother 

 luitterfly laid her eggs, which later hatched into the caterpillars, on the 

 milkweed plant? 



TO. How many colors do you find on the caterpillar? How are these 

 colors arranged? 



11. Can yovi see some httle filaments like whiplashes on the cater- 

 pillar? On which segments are they? Which pair is the longer, the 

 front or the hind pair? If you touch the caterpillar, which pair twitches 

 the more excitedly? Of what use do you think these little hving whips 

 are to the caterpillar? 



12. Describe how the caterpillar eats the milkweed leaf. Does it 

 eat constantly, or does it now and then rest? 



13. Watch the caterpillar; then describe how it sheds its skin. Why 

 does it shed its skin ? 



The chrysalis 



14. When the caterpillar is fully grown and is ready to change to a 

 chrysalis, how does it hang itself up? Describe how it sheds its skin. 



15. Describe the shape of the chrysalis. What is its color? How 

 is it ornamented? 



16. Watch the colors of the chrysalis day by day and note whether 

 they change. Do the markings change? 



17. How does the butterfly get out of the chrysalis? How does it 

 look when it first comes out? How does it act at first? How does the 

 empty chrysalis look? 



TO A BUTTERFLY 



Birds have their nests; they rear their eager young 



And flit on errands all the livelong day; 

 Each field mouse keeps the homestead where it sprung; 

 But thou art nature's freeman — free to stray 

 Unfettered through the wood, 

 Seeking thine airy food, 

 The sweetness spiced on every blossomed spray. 



T. W. HIGGINSON 



