HOW I CAUGHT A BUTTERFLY 
95 
woody structure as regularly and completely as you could do it with 
your scissors. Perhaps he knew this was to be his last dinner during 
his worm life, so he ate and ate as though he could not get enough, for 
he needed to lay up in store sufficient for a long, long nap. 
Soon after his meal he commenced a tour of investigation in his 
apartments. He traveled rapidly from corner to corner and from 
floor to ceiling as though dissatisfied with his lodgings. 
We finally carried him out and placed him upon a slender twig of 
a tree. Almost immediately he stretched himself out at full length and 
settled him'self as though for a period of rest. 
After a little time of quiet, he moved his head to the foot of his 
resting-place, and with his mouth he fastened the end of a fine, shim¬ 
mering thread of jelly as for a firm footing. Then straightening his 
body he carried the glistening, silvery thread, which hardened as it 
came in contact with the air, and fastened it to a point just beyond his 
head. 
In this manner he worked diligently, carrying the silvery thread 
back and forth and fastening it at both ends until he had completely 
surrounded liis entire body in a silken sheath. Then he formed another 
inside layer in the same manner, and still another until his little house 
Was sufficiently strong and firm to protect it against both wind and 
weather. 
At a certain stage of his building I took the scissors and made a 
small round incision through his sheath. He turned quickly as though 
impatient at the intrusion and then began patching up the hole. Back 
and forth, back and forth he fastened the tiny threads on the edges until 
the fracture was completely mended and his house strong and secure 
again. 
A tube carrying this fine jelly, thread-like substance extends 
through the entire length of his body and issues forth from two small 
canals on the upper lip. 
I finally cut the twig and placed it in my bureau-drawer to await 
further development. It remained there during the entire winter. A 
slight pressure at any time upon the sheath would create an agitation 
within which indicated that life in some form still remained. 
This sleeping condition Was the second stage of its existence and is 
called the chrysalid stage. 
As the warm days of spring approached, I made frequent visits to 
