LADYBIRD. 183 



fortress is always placed in a position of safety, and is of a 

 most complex construction. It is a hillock, containing two 

 or three tiers of galleries with connecting passages, and from 

 the central chamber it has passages, or rows, extending in 

 different directions. 



The boys returned to their couches in the long grass in the 

 shade, and Frank was soon too sleepy to tease, but lay on the 

 broad of his back, looking up at the blue sky through the inter- 

 stices of the oak branches. Dick was studying the movements 



LAbYBIRD AND ITS STAGES. 



of a ladybird with red back and black spots, which was crawling 

 up a grass-stem, and wondering how such a pretty creature could 

 eat a green juicy aphis, as it has a habit of doing. Jimmy was 

 turning over the pages of his book, and looking out the plates 

 of flowers, and comparing them with some he had gathered. 

 He was rather bewildered and somewhat discouraged at the 

 immensity of the study he had undertaken. No sooner did he 

 learn the name of a flower than it was driven from his head by 

 that of another, and having attempted to do too much in the 

 beginning, he had got into a pretty state of confusion. He 



