56 :©otani5 



brown chrysalis looks a very hannless thing ; we 

 cover it up when we have laid it bare, and we say 

 " let the poor thing sleep ;" the poor thing will wake 

 up from its nap and try to rob the big world of its 

 dinner. 



Our house-plants, kept warm and moist, nourish 

 their enemies into an earl}^ growth. In March we 

 see some of our favorites growing yellow and hang- 

 ing their heads. If we have good eyes or a strong 

 lens we shall soon see what is the trouble ; here are 

 detachments of " red spider," not so big as the head 

 of the tiniest pin, but with a great appetite for 

 leaves, wdiich he riddles and nips and kills, in spite 

 of his tin}^ dimensions. On another plant an amaz- 

 ing colon}^ of aphis has settled down ; a very wonder- 

 ful little bug, the aphis, about which learned articles, 

 and even books, have been written. It looks a help- 

 less mite, not much larger than a poppy seed, and 

 dressed in green like the leaves it lives on. Unless 

 we can get rid of the aphis we shall soon lose our 

 plants. Our best ally here will be another of the 

 insect army, a beautiful, friendly little creature that 

 never harms man and his plant partners and pro- 

 viders. This is the lady beetle, or lady bug, a dainty 

 creature, dressed in red, black dotted, or in orange 

 or black with red dots. 



Out of doors that delicate white butterfl}^ drifting 



