LEAVES FROM AN APRIL JOURNAL. 49 



tjrpe into some other form, which it is gradually 

 finding out is best suited to sustain it in the great 

 struggle for existence. 



Another harbinger of the warm days, which I 

 see the sun has limbered and set in motion, is 

 that pretty butterfly ( Vanessa antiopa') with purple 

 wings so beautifully marked with yellow borders 

 and blue spots. It is the first butterfly of the 

 season. While most of the species hibernate in 

 the pupal state, and take to themselves wings later 

 in the year, this particular kind crawls, as a per- 

 fect insect, into some shelter during the coldest 

 weather, and remains torpid until such days as 

 this bring it back to cheerful life once more. Al- 

 though the table of sweets has not yet been spread, 

 I doubt not that its long tongue will find some- 

 thing tasteful among the birches toward which it 

 is winging its bird-like way. 



Besides the Vanessa, two other butterflies have 

 appeared: the common brimstone, wabbling over 

 the meadows, and another with rusty wings, mov- 

 ing with a quick, jerky flight, now among the low 

 shrubs, and then rapidly ascending like a dead 

 leaf, blown by a whirlwind high among the beech 

 branches where the nymph becomes suddenly in- 

 visible. 



