156 EYE SPY 



alights with wings folded close above his back, 

 disclosing the silver " comma " in the midst of 

 the dull brown of the nether surface. Many are 

 the tiny tokens which she also leaves behind 

 her as she flutters away in search of a new nettle- 

 clump. 



We have been closely observing these two but- 

 terflies perhaps for half an hour, and during that 

 time our eyes have rested a dozen times upon a 

 condition of things here among the leaves which 

 certainly should have immediately arrested our 

 attention. Almost within touch of our hand, upon 

 one stalk, are three leaves which certainly do not 

 hang like their fellows. One of them has been 

 drawn up at the edges, and fully one-half of its 

 lower portion is gone, while its angle of drooping 

 indicates more than the mere weight of the leaf. 

 " A spider's nest, of course," you remark. As 

 such it has been passed a thousand times even by 

 young and enthusiastic entomological students 

 who would have risked their lives for a "cecropia" 

 or a " bull's-eye " caterpillar, or stung their hands 

 mercilessly as they swept their butterfly net among 

 those very stinging leaves. It is interesting to 

 gather a few of these " spider's nests," and examine 

 the cause of their heavy droop, which proves to 

 be a healthy-looking gray caterpillar an inch or 

 more in length, covered with formidable spines, 

 perpetuating as it were the tendency of its foster- 



