78 Beautiful Butterflies. 



like an idle fellow as he is, for the song says, you 

 know that 



. " The Butterfly was a gentleman, 

 Of no very good repute, 

 And he roamed in the sunshine all day long, 

 In his scarlet and purple suit." 



There he goes fluttering, fluttering, with his gaily- 

 painted wings spread out, with the tips as much per- 

 haps as three inches apart, without appearing in the 

 least incommoded by the long name he carries about 

 with him, and which, if he should let it fall so as to 

 break it into two halves, would turn out to be made up 

 of the Greek words Polus — many, and Chlorus — spot, 

 so that it means, literally, many-spotted ; and this we 

 must confess to be a very appropriate title, better than 

 all the Atalantas and Camillas, and such like proper, 

 or rather improper, names of fabulous persons. It was 

 most likely on a bright July day that the Great Tor- 

 toise-shell Butterfly — you know why he is called that, 

 because he is marked like the shell of a tortoise — burst 

 from his chrysalis prison, and he will most likely leave 

 this gay and busy scene before the end of September ; 

 either dying, as is generally the case, or stowing him- 

 self away in some nook or cranny, where his superb 

 wings can be kept dry for a little spring exercise, 

 should the weather prove at all genial ; they get, how- 

 ever, sadly rubbed and rumpled, and cannot be made 



