152 Hillside. 



nothing, however familiar it may be to us, that cannot teach 

 us wonderful lessons, that cannot unfold to us hidden mys- 

 teries, that cannot read us a marvellous and engrossing 

 story, if we are only earnest and intelligent enough to 

 question it aright. 



Well, we have had a very pleasant rest under the chestnut 

 trees, but I think my ankle has forgotten the poachers by 

 this time, so we will make a move. We climb the bank, 

 on which here and there are bushes of juniper, whilst the 

 grass and flowers form a carpet into which the foot sinks 

 deeper at every step. As we near the ridge the herbage 

 gets shorter, and wild thyme and marjoram spread their 

 glowing mantle over the turf. Here a small but lovely 

 purple moth with rich golden spots (Pyrausta purpuralis), 

 accompanied by a smaller one in rich black velvet with a 

 white band (Ennychia nigratd), flits rapidly from flower to 

 flower, so rapidly that, numerous as they are, an un- 

 observant passer-by would miss them altogether. Then a 

 red insect with a pale line along the edge of the fore-wing 

 (llithyia carnelld), makes a short heavy flight for a few 

 yards before dropping again. A grasshopper ! you exclaim. 

 Well, it flies exactly like one, but I doubt whether it is. 

 Watch one down ! That is a grasshopper, but the next one, 

 although it flies exactly in the same manner, and ia in- 

 distinguishable on the wing, proves to be a moth. The moth 

 is undoubtedly mimicking its stronger and more powerful 

 companion. Both are very similar in colour, in the heavy 

 manner of their flight, and, to a certain extent, in their 

 method of resting ; but we soon learn to detect one from the 

 other by noticing that the moth takes rather longer flights 

 than the grasshopper. 



