lO'^ 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER, 



April 



No Doabt Abont It. 



"Do yon play by note?" inquired one 

 ■of the summer residents of Blueville of 

 the violinist of the "Berry Corners' or- 

 chestra, " ■which had been discoursing 

 ear piercing strains at a lawn party. 



"Nivver a note do Oi play by, sorr, " 

 replied Mr. Flaherty, mopping his heat- 

 ed brow with a handkerchief of sangui- 

 nary hue. 



"Ah, by ear, then?" said the sum- 

 mer resident, with a smile of gracious 

 interest. 



"Nivver an ear hilps me, yer honor, " 

 responded Mr. Flaherty, returning his 

 handkerchief to his capacious pocket. 



"Indeed! May I ask how you — what 

 you do play by, then?" persisted the in- 

 quirer. 



"By main strin'th, be jabbers," said 

 Mr. Flaherty, with a weary air, as he 

 plunged his ancient instrument into its 

 green bag. ' 'An it's moighty dry wurrk, 

 an that's thruth, sorr. " — Youth's Com- 

 panion. 



IJV SECTS AS ACTOES. 



Feather Superstition. 



We have long been acquainted with 

 the peacock feather superstition, but 

 were not aware until a few days ago 

 that it extended to all feathered crea- 

 tures. A young girl admired the beau- 

 tiful pigeons strutting, cooing and sun- 

 ning themselves in the covert of the 

 house where she was boarding and ask- 

 ed the landlady to sell her a pair to take 

 home with her. "No, indeed, child," 

 was the immediate response. "Not for 

 any money would I sell you those birds. 

 When one person gives or sells an ac- 

 quaintance a feathered thing, there is 

 sure to be trouble between them, and I 

 do not want to fail out with you." — 

 Philadelphia Times. 



Softening tlie Expression. 



"See here, Jones, I never thought 

 you were a liar, but I overheard you 

 tell Miss Gordon last night that her face 

 was a perfect dream. What d'ye say 

 that for?" 



"Well, say, she's a perfect nightmare, 

 isn't she?" 



"You're telling the truth now." 



"Well, tliat's what I told her, only 

 I softened the expression a little." — 

 New York Recorder. 



CREATURES THAT CHANGE IN AP- 

 PEARANCE TO ELUDE ENEMIES. 



Even the I.,ovely Butterfly Is Up to Tricks. 

 Motlis That Try to Look as if Tliey Had 

 Bee Stings — Anta Copied by Spiders — A 

 Caterpillar's Fierce Disguise. 



All creation below man is in a state of 

 war, and any creaturo that cannot take 

 care of itself quickly falls an unpitied vic- 

 tim Thusc that have teeth or claws or 

 stings fiyht with them, and those that 

 have none of these are driven to seek safe- 

 ty by ajjing the appearance and manner 

 of some IjuitiT endowed relative. Butter- 

 flies in general are most helpless crea- 

 tures, but sunie of them are possessed of a 

 peculiar defense. They ha^^e a bad taste. 

 Birds that try to eat them find themselves 

 made ill and naturally stop the feast. 

 Now, the uniform of such a butterfly is a 

 valuable protection, and the sweet and 

 edible butterllies that live in the same 

 fields avail themselves of it. If the favored 

 fly is red, some butterflies that ought per- 

 haps to bo yellow are found arrayed in a 

 shade of red which is a pretty close match 

 of the one copied. If the poisonous one 

 has a marked spot on his wings, the imi- 

 tator wiil grow a spot somewhat like it, 

 and even when the first has so distinctive 

 a lu.-irk as a swallow tail wing the poor 

 hunted cousin is not discouraged, but 

 sticks out an imitation spike at the end of 

 his wing in t!)e hope of deceiving the eye 

 of the ever watchful sparrow who is after 

 him 



It is not every individual of a hunted 

 species that changes in this way. If they 

 all changed, the birds would soon discover 

 the trick, anil it would become useless. 

 Sometimes wlien the hunted species is a 

 large one it ii not safe even for those tliat 

 do change all to copy the same poisonous 

 species So sometimes they are found 

 copying two or even three different spe- 

 cies. In this case the eggs that are laid 

 by a female of any of the colors will 

 hatch out into all the several kinds of 

 flies. It is remarkable that as the male 

 flies are .slrcjiiger and of swifter flight 

 than the female and better able to take 

 care of themselves they do not often 

 change, but by keeping their original col- 

 or serve to decoy the birds away from 

 their mates and to keep up the delusion 

 that the imitation is intended to create. 



These disguises of the butterfly are won- 

 derful enoufcth, but thev are all in the 



