138 IRambles wttb IRature Students 



BLUE BUTTERFLIES ASLEEP (Lycana Icarus} 



Walking last evening in a field where 

 the long flowering stalks of grass were 

 swaying to and fro in the breeze, I 

 was struck by what seemed 

 a small grey blossom hanging 

 upon one of them, and look- 

 ing more closely I found it 

 was a blue butterfly 

 which had gone to 

 sleep upon the 

 grass stem. Passing 

 on a little further, 

 I found dozens of 

 the exquisite little 

 creatures with 

 folded wings 

 quietly rest- 

 ing until the 

 sunrise 

 should 

 awaken 

 them to 

 new life 

 and 

 activity 



COMMON BLUE 

 BUTTERFLIES 

 REPOSING ON 

 GRASS. 



This 

 mor n- 

 i n g 

 there 

 w a s 



heavy rain and a 

 high wind, and I 

 was rather curious 

 to know how the 

 butterflies had 

 so when there 

 came a lull in the storm 

 I made my way to the field, 

 and there were the fragile 

 little insects being blown 

 hither and thither on the 

 grass stalks, but evidently 

 quite unharmed by wind and 

 rain. 



I could but admire the in- 

 stinct which had guided these 

 frail creatures in their choice 

 of a resting-place ; had they 

 been roosting in trees or shrubs, 

 a blow from a large leaf flap- 

 ping to and fro would have 

 been fatal to them, but on the 

 slender grasses they bent before 



