l6 A FORWARD MARCH. 



rocks, flirting their tails, and peering into crev- 

 ices, as tliougli the gallant husbands, coming on 

 before their wives, were prospecting for building 

 sites. 



Not only has the sun quickened the blood and 

 put the songs in the throats of the early birds, 

 but it is sending the beams into every cranny, 

 chink and rift, and resurrecting the butterflies. 

 Several are started up as I walk along the sunny, 

 wooded slope. They alight on the dead leaves, 

 slowly opening and shutting their ornamented 

 wings, and appear to suck the moisture with their 

 siphon-like tongues. What splendid hues has this 

 insect ! Where in the world did it get that gold 

 paint, and what artist designed and executed such 

 delicate gilding, such elegant marking.'' 



Besides the antiopa I spy another specimen in 

 the genus Vanessa that has come out to try the 

 air. It is a size smaller, with angular, bright ful- 

 vous wings which harmonize nicely in color and 

 shape with certain rusty, damp, oak leaves that 

 rest partly on their edges, so that the light shines 

 on them. It has the action of its brother, but is 

 more easily alarmed. How readily these insects 

 see you ! Although I approach it with the great- 

 est caution, it does not allow me to come within 

 ten feet of it, and flutters away, like a scrap of 

 brown paper blown off by the wind. Sunlight, air 

 and dew only seem to be their tenuous nourish- 



