46 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



THE FIRST WHITE BUTTERFLY. 



The first white butterfly is the most fallacious of 

 all spring signs, for his appearance in March proves 

 only that his chrysalis had been accidentally sub- 

 jected to artificial heat. When the caterpillar is full 

 grown in autumn it often crawls long distances to 

 discover a suitable niche for its long winter sleep. 

 Sometimes it finds its way into a hot-house, where 

 it is " forced " like a tulip, and emerges as a butterfly 

 at Christmas. At other times the caterpillar hangs 

 itself up, to turn into a chrysalis, in the fatal security 

 of some sunny corner in a human dwelling, or chances 

 upon a convenient crevice in the outside brickwork 

 of a greenhouse chimney. Here it is protected from 

 the retarding influence of the frosts of winter, and 

 by the end of February has so nearly approached 

 maturity that it only needs a day of warm spring 

 sunshine and a mild night to complete the job, and 

 next morning a brand-new white butterfly is flicker- 

 ing about the garden, deceiving us with the notion 

 that summer is just round the corner. 



A SUPERSTITION WITH A MEANING. 



The belief ip some districts that you will have 

 " cruel bad lucty " all the year if you cannot manage 

 to kill the first ivhite butterfly that you see in spring 



often sends a 

 street. Nothing 



omical hue-and-cry down a village 

 looks much more absurd than the 



attempts of the aged and inexpert to catch a 

 frightened butterfly, and the chase usually ends in 

 a row of disapp Dinted faces peering over the fence 



