A CHANCE ACQUAINTANCE. 3 



A Chance Acquaintance. 



BY E. H. 



While I have alwa^'S believed that eyes were made for 

 seeing, and that it was necessary to keep them open to be- 

 hold the wonders and beauties of nature, I have never 

 " watched out " for " bugs and worms." 



As a small child, an introduction to some entomological 

 specimens produced such lasting impressions that I never 

 cared for further acquaintance with the insect world, ex- 

 cept as some exceptional beauty or oddity came to my no- 

 tice. However, last j^ear, while looking at a milkweed 

 plant upon our premises, and threatening it with destruc- 

 tion, I saw upon it a caterpillar. Just at this moment, there 

 happened to pass one of my friends, an authority upon en- 

 tomology, who told me that there was an interesting study 

 before me, without the trouble of a feeding-box or special 

 attention to insect guests. 



The watching for a short time was rewarded by the de- 

 velopment, through the various stages to the adult form, 

 of the Monarch butterfly — Anosia plexippiis. 



As the wings of the butterflj- unfolded, after the beauti- 

 ful gold-studded chrysalis was left behind, my desire to see 

 a repetition of the miracle so increased that later I traveled 

 miles to find another caterpillar. But the season was too 

 far advanced (or my e}'es not sharp enough) for the dis- 

 covery of a second one. 



One day, while upon this errand, I chanced to see a 

 sassafras bush, and feeding upon it a threatening creature, 

 the " Bugaboo of the Spicebush," which so frightened the 

 old farmer of William Hamilton Gibson's acquaintance, as 

 related in " Sharp Ej'es." 



My discovery afforded me great pleasure. The butter- 

 fl}'- which hides in the most beautiful chrysalis known, and 



