202 THE SWAN AND HER CREW. 



place, dry up to nothing as it were ; and then after a long ex- 

 posure to the heat, if it is put into water again, it will swell 

 out and resume its old proportions, and, live seeming none 

 the worse for being baked. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Purple Emperor. His Taste for Carrion. Wood-pecker. Blue and 

 Small Copper Butterflies. Buff- tip Moth. Moths at Ivy. Strange- 

 looking Caterpillars. 



ONE hot August day Frank and his faithful follower Jimmy 

 were strolling arm-in-arm along the lanes to call for Dick. 

 Presently they came upon him engaged in no very pleasant 

 occupation. Holding his nose with one hand, with the other 

 he was drawing along a dead dog by means of a long bramble 

 twisted round it. The dog was highly odoriferous, and Frank 

 and Jimmy kept at a distance while they asked him what he 

 was doing that for. 



" I saw a purple emperor butterfly flying round the top of 

 one of the oaks in the park. It is impossible to catch it with a 

 net, but I have read that these butterflies have a taste for 

 carrion, and will come down to it ; so I just fished about until 

 I found this dead dog, which I mean to lay under the tree as a 

 bait." 



" Are you sure it was a purple emperor ? They are very 

 rare here," said Frank. 



" Oh yes, I saw the purple of its wings shining in the sun, 

 and it was so large, and it flew about the tops of the oaks, and 

 then flew higher still out of sight." 



The purple emperor is looked upon as the king of English 

 butterflies. It is a large insect, with wings of dark purple 

 bordered with white, which vary in colour like the material 

 known as shot silk, and in the sunlight gleam most beauti- 

 fully. The males only have this splendid purple gloss on their 



