POLLY. 



Letty was out under the big elm tree 

 watching the kitten playing with the au- 

 tumn leaves that were on the ground. 



Suddenly something struck Letty on 

 the shoulder. She looked around quick- 

 ly, thinking that somebody had thrown a 

 stone at her. No one was in sight, 

 though she looked all about and even up 

 in the tree. Then she noticed that the 

 kitten was rolling something with its 

 paws. She stooped and picked up what 

 looked like a little bunch of elm leaves. 

 She thought it strange that they should 

 be stuck together, and when she found 

 that it was quite heavy she was still more 

 surprised. 



She carried it into the house to show 

 to her mother. "What is it?'' she asked. 

 "It came down off the tree and hit me 

 on mv shoulder. Is there a stone inside 

 of it?" 



"No," said her mother. "It is a chrys- 

 alis. Some worm that lived on the elm 

 tree drew these leaves together and spun 

 a little case inside, and when the leaves 

 were ready to fall, the chrysalis came 

 down with them." 



"What kind of a worm do you suppose 

 it was ?" 



"I do not know, but it must have been 

 a large one, or the chrysalis would not be 

 so heavy. We will keep it, and in the 

 spring when the worm has turned into a 

 butterfly and comes out of the case, per- 

 haps we can learn what its name is." 



"But how will it get out?' asked Letty, 

 anxiously. "It is so hard and tough. I 

 tried to pull off one of the leaves and it 

 stuck on tight." 



"Yes," said her mother, "it is very 

 tough and you could not tear it open 

 with your fingers even if you tried very 

 hard. But the butterfly throws out some 

 kind of fluid which softens the silk — for 

 it is a kind of silk, you know — and makes 

 a hole large enough to crawl through. It 



does not have to be very big, as the but- 

 terfly's wings are soft and wet. It has 

 to let them dry and grow strong and stiff 

 before it can fly." 



The chrysalis was put in a safe place 

 and Letty forgot all about it for many 

 months, which was not strange when 

 there were so many things for her to do 

 all through the winter and early spring. 



But her mother did not forget, and one 

 day in June she called Letty in from her 

 play telling her that she had something 

 to show her. 



"Do you remember the elm chrysalis ?" 

 she asked, and she put it in Letty's hand. 



"Why how light it is !" she cried. "The 

 butterfly has come out, oh ! where is it ?" 



Her mother led the way to the plant 

 stand. "See, on that begonia," she said. 



"Oh, oh !" cried Letty, "what a beauti- 

 ful butterfly!" 



It was very large, nearly five inches 

 across when its wings were spread. It 

 was dull yellow, with darker shadings, a 

 little red in waving lines, and a gray 

 stripe along the front edge of its outer 

 wings. It was quite furry, especially the 

 large yellow body. Each of the four 

 wings had a transparent eye spot, and 

 the under wings had a good deal of black 

 about these little round windows, as Let- 

 ty called them. 



"And, mamma, see ! It has beautiful 

 little dark-blue eyes." 



"Yes, it has, but I did not notice them 

 before." 



"Well, what kind of a butterfly is it?" 

 "It is not a butterfly at all." 

 "Not a butterfly?" said Letty, sur- 

 prised. 



"No ; it is a moth. Have you noticed 

 its antennae — the horns on the front of 

 its head?" 



"They look like feathers," said Lett} : 

 "no, like ferns." 



"So they do," said her mother. "Well, 



108 



