STUDIES OF BUTTERFLIES 



At the first streak of dawn I was out. I found the 

 place where I had last seen them, tracked them a littk 

 way, and then, to my great relief, found them just 

 climbing down from amongst the branches. The 

 elephants had kept round them all night, they 

 explained, and had only left about ten minutes before. 

 During this jungle trip I succeeded in getting some 

 very interesting studies of butterflies. One thing 

 on which I had set my heart was to secure some 

 moving pictures of caterpillars going into the chrysalis 

 stage. It sounds a fairly simple matter, yet it was 

 five years before I accomplished my object. One case 

 was particularly disappointing. In Ceylon I got hold 

 of a caterpillar of the Atlas moth and watched him 

 with the greatest care, yet in the end he beat me. 

 However, I determined to have him as he was coming 

 out again, and with that object in view sat up every 

 night for a week with my camera and the magnesium 

 ribbon ready. And then, after all my trouble, I 

 discovered that the ants had got at the cocoon, and the 

 insect was dead. 



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