CHAPTER THE TWELFTH, 
THE BUTTERFLY", 
Every one is glad to see tlie butterfly. She 
comes when the daisies and the buttercups spread 
their rich carpet over the meadows; and her 
appearance never fails to remind us of the 
sunshine and the flowers of summer. 
Nothing can be more refined than the habits 
of the butterfly. Her only nourishment is honey 
and nectar; her native element is the air; and 
her favourite resting-place the bosom of a flower. 
No other insect can vie with her in point of 
beauty and splendour of dress; and it would be 
quite impossible to describe the endless variety 
of markings, cloudings, and spottings, that 
embellish her wings. 
Her wings are very large in proportion to the 
size of her body, and it seems as if Nature had 
wished to have an ample space for the disjflay of 
her pencil. The under-side is often as gaily 
painted as the upper, and entirely in a different 
