Photo by Dr. R. W. Shufddt 



The Study of Moths and Butterflies as a Recreation 



Christi>tc T. Acker 

 Camden, X. J. 



One day in early fall as I was walking with my daughter, who 

 is seven years old, out State Street to the outskirts of Camden, 

 X. J., we came to the bridge over Cooper River. When that 

 bridge is crossed we are in the country — a long stretch of meadow 

 bounded on one side by the Delaware River and on the other by a 

 farm, Coxie's Pond and fields of many kinds of wild flowers. 

 On a willow tree we found a very large cocoon. Like Pasteur 

 when he called on Fabre to get some silk-worm cocoons, we did 

 not know what we had, nor that there was a live pupa inside. 

 We brought it home and placed it over a picture in the living room. 

 We enjoyed looking at it and wondered what it could be, never 

 taking the trouble to find out. The first week in April as I was 

 passing through the room in which the cocoon had wintered, I 

 saw what I thought the most beautiful creature in existence. 

 I shall never forget the thrill of joy in beholding my first Cecropia. 

 It fired me with wonder and awe to think that such things could 

 exist so close to us and we so uninformed. It inspired me with a 

 desire for knowledge of things out-of-doors, and I shall now try 

 to tell of things I have seen and found within a few minutes' walk 

 of mv home. 



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