BUTTERFLY HOUSE. 



147 



BUTTERFLY HOUSE. 



HOW IT WAS BUILT. 



A great party 

 of caterpillars to- 

 gether on a tree 

 in Mexico deter- 

 mined to build 

 themselves a 

 house. Nature 

 taught them how 

 to do it. They 

 began by spin- 

 ning a silk web 

 about a twig that 

 descended from 

 a large branch. 

 This done, they 

 constructed their 

 walls, spinning 

 and weaving the 

 silk as they pro- 

 ceeded, not build- 

 ing upward, as men do, but downward from the roof. 



The walls of the house were constructed of silk, 

 so closely woven that they seemed made of parch- 

 ment, and the whole habitation when finished was 

 shaped like a bottle. The only opening in the house 



Butterfly bouse. 



