142 



\ViLD LIFE AT HOME. 



into emitting sufficient light to focus by, we burnt 

 some magnesium ribbon in order to accomplish our 

 end. This presented an unforeseen difficulty. Directly 

 the bright white light flashed out the butterfly be- 

 came full of ani- 

 mation, spread 

 out its antennae 

 to right and left, 

 danced about 

 and leant over 

 on one side as 

 if it were under 

 the impression 

 that the light 

 was giving forth 



some vitalising 



GRASS MOTH AT "SUGAR.' 



warmth, where- 

 as it was much 

 too far away for 

 the insect to 

 derive the least 

 benefit of that 

 kind from it. 



After a good deal of trouble we succeeded in focus- 

 sing the insect near the part of the flower where I 

 originally found it, and made a negative from 

 which the picture on the previous page has been 

 reproduced. 



Curiously enough upon trying to focus a small 

 dragon-fly by the light from a bit of magnesium 



