154 THE OPEN BOOK OF NATURE 
this time the Bugle (Ajuga repians). This plant fre- 
quents woods and damp meadows, but here are a 
few spikes of it in a moist, mossy patch on the lane- | 
side. Blue labiate flowers, mark you, growing in 
circles, tier above tier round the stalks. And it also 
has runners (scions) springing from the crown of 
the roots and creeping on the ground. This plant 
increases its numbers by runners as well as by seed. 
Fancy Victor here sending a long runner out of his 
shoulder and growing a little Victor at the end of 
it! Well, big Bugle grows little Bugles that way, 
and it can thus do what it is impossible for men to 
achieve. I love the Bugle because it is one of the 
early spring flowers, and shows its lovely tint of 
blue in welcome relief of the monotony of yellow 
that prevails early in the year. 
What’s that you say? A butterfly? Oh yes; 
I see two. One is a Small White (Pieris rape), 
quite common, but no less interesting on that 
account. That is the lady who lays her eggs on 
cabbages, and the caterpillars which emerge from 
the eggs literally eat cabbage until they are too 
big for their skins. But they are quite equal to 
the emergency ; they throw off their tight skins, and 
appear in clothes more suited to their size. Quite 
a good way of loosening the belt, you will declare. 
The time comes when the caterpillars (Jarve, you 
should call them), which are green, with a yellow 
line along the back and dotted yellow lines op the 
sides, cease to feed, and turn into chrysalides, or 
pupe. ‘Then the butterflies in due course emerge 
from the pup, dry their wings, and stretch them 
for flight. I have heard boys say that Small White 
