THE CATERPILLAR'S PROPHECY 



203 



flitting about carelessly from place to place. 

 Finally she approached the milkweed, and 

 after a moment of hesitation deposited a tiny 

 white egg on the under side of a leaf. A mo- 

 ment more and she was gone without thought 

 or care as to the fate of her offspring. 



The Naturalist examined the plant with 

 some care, and found that other butterflies had 

 been there before and that several of the tiny 

 eggs were present under the leaves on differ- 

 ent parts of the plant. Immediately he was 

 happy again in the living present, which could 

 supply things denied him by the dead past and 

 the uncertain future. 

 Here was material to 

 occupy his time most 

 pleasantly for many 

 days. The butterfly 

 was concerned about 

 only to-day; why 

 should he bother his 

 head about a longer 

 time? 



As free from care 

 as a child or a bird, 

 the Naturalist spent 

 many hours dream- 



The milkweed suffered seriously as a result of 



their presence, and was soon almost 



entirely stripped of its leaves. 



