154 MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



premises, so, in pursuance of one of the first arti- 

 cles of my saunterer's creed, I concluded to retreat 

 softly a few paces and watch for developments. 

 One by one the swarm sought their original 

 haunt, settling on the bramble, and I now noticed 

 that only in occasional instances did the insects 

 seek the flowers, the attraction seeming to be 

 confined to the leaves. I stole up softly for a 

 nearer point of observation, and could now dis- 

 tinctly see the beautiful yellow and black open 

 wings of the swallow-tail softly gliding or gently 

 fluttering as • it hung from the edge of a leaf, 

 while it explored its surface with its uncoiled ca- 

 pillary tongue. Just beyond my Turnus, on an- 

 other leaf, I now noted a new presence, the orange 

 Aphrodite butterfly, silvery spotted, its nether 

 wings being folded over its back, too much ab- 

 sorbed to have been startled by my first approach. 

 Occasionally, without any cause which I could de- 

 tect from my present position — certainly in no 

 way connected with my presence — a small swarm 

 of the butterflies would rise in a flutter above the 

 bush, as though actuated by a common whim — a 

 brief winged tangle in which a beautiful sprite of 

 velvety black hovering in a globular halo, shot 

 through with two white semicircular arcs, was al- 

 ways a momentary feature. 



