156 NATURE'S CALENDAR 



July 6 the most wonderful examples of real in- 



- stinct (a much-abused word) the proper 



plant upon which to deposit their eggs — 

 proper because that plant alone will fur- 

 nish the right nourishment for the cater- 

 pillar that later, after these butterflies 

 are dead, will hatch out of their eggs and 

 begin to feed. 



No summer study is more delightful 

 than that of these " emblems of the soul," 

 whose forms and colors and attitudes are 

 alike lovely; and if you are in possession 

 of such a guide as the admirable books 

 of Mr. Samuel E. Scudder, or of Mr. W. 

 J. Holland, w^hose colored plates enable 

 you to identify any species likely to be 

 met with in your rambles, you have the 

 means of great happiness in your hands. 

 Unlike the comparatively duU-hued 

 butterflies of early spring, those of sum- 

 mer are gay in raiment. This seasonal 

 conformity between the butterflies and 

 their surroundings has been worked out 

 in a discerning and interesting manner 

 by Mr. Scudder as follows : 



" I do not know that any of our natu- 

 ralists or artists have written of the har- 

 mony between the prevailing tints of a 

 New England landscape at different times 

 of the year and of the insect world at the 

 same seasons. Our common butterflies, 

 which nature has been at such pains to 

 adorn, show a shifting panorama of form 

 and color from early spring to the time 



of frost. 



July 7 



