toward the anterior end, and the butter- 

 fly or moth crawls forth with wings 

 which, though at first small and crum- 

 pled up, in a few hours attain their full 

 size. As soon as they are strong enough 

 the new creature mounts upon them and, 

 if it be a butterfly, flies out into the sun- 

 light; while the moth hies away tO' some 

 dark corner until nightfall, then for the 

 first time in its existence it rises upon 

 wings to enjoy the summer zephyrs., 



I remember having watched one but- 

 terfly leave the chrysalis and, though 

 but a child at the time, I shall never out- 

 live the impressions which that rare 

 pleasure left with me. It was one of 

 the large-winged, black-white-and-yel- 

 lovv fellows which every one admires so 

 much, and which species is regarded as 

 a treasure here in these Central States. 

 Little by little the ugly casing opened, 

 and when I first saw the baby butterfly 

 he was like a tiny mass of mingled col- 

 ors, with neither life nor shape to give 

 me an idea of the sort of creature into 

 which he would develop. Soon he be- 

 gan to move uneasily, like a child aw^ak- 

 ing cut of a long sleep ; then he stretched 

 his wings leisurely as though proud to 

 have found them at last. Next he drew 

 himself up and finished bursting his 

 paper-like shell, gained a foothold on the 

 plank on which we had placed him and 

 looked about with a, seemingly, very 

 much surprised though gratified air. 

 Meanwhile he kept working his wings 

 and stretching them anon, very impatient 

 because of their, to him, slow growth. 



At last he gained the confidence to try 

 them, and within an hour from the time 

 we first saw him he had arisen and flown 

 away into the sunshine to seek his place 

 in the world. 



Butterflies and moths are widely dis- 

 tributed all over the globe, occurring, 

 however, in greatest variety and abund- 

 ance in tropical lands. They are found 

 as far north as Spitzbergen, on the Alps 

 to the height of 9,000 feet, and to double 

 that height on the Andes. In Great 

 Britain there are sixty-six species, while 

 in all Europe only three hundred and 

 ninety have been enumerated. In Brazil 

 there are about seven hundred, and the 

 total number of species of moths is about 

 two thousand. Among the butterflies 

 are to be found some exceedingly beauti- 

 ful insects, some of them very large, 

 especially in the tropical belt. 



The butterflies are to insects what the 

 humming-birds are to the feathered 

 tribes, the analogy holding good not 

 only in the brilliant colors and manner 

 of flight, but also in the nature of their 

 nutriment — the honeyed juices of flowers. 

 Both seem destined to brighten and 

 beautify the way for man, while the 

 lesson of immortality gathered from the 

 life of the ethereal butterfly, like that 

 conveyed by the beautiful and ever- 

 wandering Psyche of Greek mythology, is 

 so easy of comprehension that we can 

 but stop and wonder at the exquisite 

 simplicity with which the all-wise 

 Creator has clothed so important a 

 truth. Claudia May Ferrin, 



Oh ! the bonny, bonny dell, whaur the prim.roses won, 

 Luikin' oot o' their leaves like wee sons o' the sun ; 

 Whaur the wild roses hing like flickers o' flame, 

 And fa' at the touch wi' a dair>ty shame ; 

 Whaur the bee swings ower the white clovery sod. 

 And the butterfly flits like a stray thoucht o' God. 



— MacDonald. 



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