THE BUTTERFLY. 



By Emily C. Thompson. 



^ N THE western part of England 

 if the first Butterfly you see in 

 the spring is white and if you 

 (?) I . succeed in killing this Butter- 

 fly, good luck will surely come 

 to you. Some gentlemen on their way 

 to church one day saw a friend dashing 

 down the road wildly brandishing a 

 cane. He could not stop to explain. 

 He was as a rule a sedate, calm man, 

 so this excitement alarmed them. As 

 nothing could be done, they went on 

 their way and soon met the father of 

 their friend, an old man who usually 

 hobbled painfully along on two canes. 

 He too was excited and was doing his 

 best to make his way down the road 

 with only one cane. His first words 

 were, "I'm afraid he has missed it." 

 "Missed what?" thought the gentlemen, 

 and finally after many efforts to quiet 

 him enough for conversation learned 

 from the old man that his son had 

 seen his first butterfly, that it was 

 white and that without more ado he 

 had snatched his old father's cane and 

 set off in pursuit. Still the old man 

 was perfectly willing to hobble along 

 as best he could, if only good luck and 

 prosperity could be procured by the 

 slaughter of the pretty little insect. 

 The color of its wings is due to what 

 seems to us a fine dust scattered 

 over them, but in reality this dust is 

 made up of little discs fastened by 

 stalks to the wings, arranged usually 

 in rows somewhat like the shingles on 

 a house. 



Notice its two great round eyes and 

 remember that each of these is com- 

 posed of thousands of perfect little 

 eyes. Its trunk you will find coiled 

 up under its head and sometimes this 

 Butterfly of ours completes its toilet 

 by opening its trunk and cleaning it. 

 By the antennae of the Butterfly you 

 can tell it from the Moth, for those of 



the former are immovable and fur- 

 nished with knobs, while those of the 

 other have not the knobs and can be 

 stowed away under the wings. If you 

 wish to distinguish the Butterfly from 

 the Moth, remember this fact, and also 

 that Butterflies fly only in the daytime 

 and always rest with the wings erect. 

 These facts are trustworthy, for no 

 Moth has ever been found to possess 

 all three of these characteristics, 

 though some do possess one or two. 



Though curious in itself, its life 

 history is still more curious. Man, in 

 passing through his seven ages never 

 loses the distinguishing characteristics 

 which make him a man, but our But- 

 terfly as it passes through its three 

 ages changes so much that we seem, 

 while studying it to be studying three 

 distinct creatures — the Caterpillar, the 

 Chrysalis, and the Butterfly. 



In the Caterpillar our dainty little 

 fairy presents itself as it appears in 

 its first stage, having just spent a few 

 days, or a month, or perhaps the whole 

 winter in the egg. It changes its old 

 skin many times during its Caterpillar 

 life of twenty or thirty days, at each 

 change gaining in weight and bril- 

 liancy, until with the last it appears as 

 a Chrysalis "a legless, mummy-like 

 creature," which maintains its sus- 

 pended position by means of the hooks 

 on its tail or by a silken girth around 

 its body. A few days before the But- 

 terfly comes forth, it can be seen 

 through the thin cases. Finally the 

 skin on the back bursts open and the 

 little insect is free. For a few min- 

 utes it stands with drooping wings. 

 Gradually the wings distend and in a 

 short while reach four times their 

 original size. Then our Butterfly 

 hastens away to carry its joyful 

 greeting to man and flower. So the 

 cycle of Butterfly life can thus be 



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