THE COMMON BUTTERFLIES 



221 



which destroy them. The boxes of insects in any museum have to 

 be looked over carefully every month and such as are infested 

 treated with the deadly fumes of some gas. Undoubtedly the best 

 and cheapest way for amateurs to mount their insects in permanent 

 form is to use the Riker mounts which consist of shallow cardboard 

 boxes with glass covers and filled with cotton. The size of box 

 large enough for most of our butterflies costs fifteen cents each, and 

 they come in cases, a dozen in a case. The butterfly is spread and 

 placed on the cotton, the cover put on and sealed with gum paper 

 and the specimen is safe for all time. As there is a box for each, 

 any specimen may be passed around and studied by itself. 



Such a collection of butterflies is a great help to a teacher as she 

 is thus able to bring a page from nature's book into the schoolroom 

 for the pupil's enjoyment and enlightenment. However, we by no 

 means advise that the pupils themselves 

 make a collection of insects, or that they 

 be encouraged to do so. 



While we do not advise the children to 

 make collections of insects our reasons for 

 doing so are based quite as much upon other 

 grounds as upon that of developing cruelty 

 in the child. The taking of life of the lower 

 animals is a matter that had best not be 

 too much dwelt upon before children, for 

 we cannot be consistent in our teaching 

 and they soon discover it. For who shall 

 say that the cat which catches and eats the 

 robin is more culpable than the person who 

 eats lamb chop for breakfast, thus sacrific- 

 ing the life of an innocent and playful 

 creature to satisfy his appetite? And in the wider view of 

 the Creator and his creatures, the life of a butterfly is no more 

 sacred than that of the housefly or a mosquito. It is far safer 

 to let these questions alone in our teaching and cultivate in the 

 child an interest in the lives of the lower animals, thus bringing him 

 into kindly relations with his little neighbors of the field, so that he 

 will naturally respect their rights. It is the boy who knows the 

 birds and loves them, who will not shoot them; it is the child who 

 knows the butterfly by name and something of its interesting habits 

 who will refrain from crushing the life out of its fragile body. 



A Breeding Cage 



