waite] a COLLECTOR'S EXPERIENCES 219 



a Monarch larvae to school and on the twelfth it pupated, and 

 finally emerged on the twenty-fifth, showing that only a short time 

 is needed for it to grow. The earliest butterfly is the Mourning- 

 cloak, which hibernates during the winter. I saw several of these 

 around last Easter and they are sometimes seen during a warm 

 spell in the spring. 



The spider is a much detested and ill-treated animal, notwith- 

 standing the fact that it kills myriads of the disease carrying house- 



Fig. III. Adult Monarch Photo by J. C. Evans 



flies. If you wish to see one of the most beautifiil works of Natiure 

 stop and look carefully at an orb-spiders web. Built in concentric 

 circles of sticky, elastic threads with a framework of stiff, unyield- 

 ing material, it is well worth a close examination. It does, indeed, 

 seem sad that such a thing of soft, delicate appearance, should be 

 used as a murderous trap, but the spider has as much right to live 

 as anything in this world. I have watched with interest though 

 hardly with much pleasure, an unwary fly or grasshopper fall into 



