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THE BUTTERFLY. 
There is the yellow butterfly,* that comes 
before the winter is over. Very often she has 
lived through it, in some sheltered nook, and 
the first sunny day in March, or even earlier, 
you may see her fluttering her wings, that are 
as delicate as the petals of the early primrose. 
Then there are the white butterflies,! that are 
more numerous than any. Even in the coldest 
and most cheerless summer, they will flutter 
about in every transient gleam of sunshine. In 
the caterpillar state, they have been destructive 
enough, but now their voracious habits are 
ended, and they come out, decked in snowy 
plumes, to enjoy life after a different fashion. 
There is the jDeacock butterfly,! with many- 
coloured spots, like eyes upon her wings, and 
myriads of a smaller kind, with bright blue 
wings,§ and wings of a violet hue, that dance 
about in the hay-fields, and then disappear until 
the corn is ripe; and brilliant little copper- 
colored butterflies || that live amongst the reeds, 
and shine in the sun as if their wings were made 
of metal. 
In the tropics, where everything grows to a 
much larger size than it ever does here, the 
butterflies are very splendid indeed. 
* Papilio rhamni, &c. f Pontia charidea, and others. 
% Vanessa io. § Polyommatus. || Lycsena. 
