<h2><SPAN name="THE_BUTTERFLY" id="THE_BUTTERFLY"></SPAN>THE BUTTERFLY.</h2>
<p class="ac"><span class="sc">By Emily C. Thompson.</span></p>
<p>IN THE western part of England
if the first Butterfly you see in
the spring is white and if you
succeed in killing this Butterfly,
good luck will surely come
to you. Some gentlemen on their way
to church one day saw a friend dashing
down the road wildly brandishing a
cane. He could not stop to explain.
He was as a rule a sedate, calm man,
so this excitement alarmed them. As
nothing could be done, they went on
their way and soon met the father of
their friend, an old man who usually
hobbled painfully along on two canes.
He too was excited and was doing his
best to make his way down the road
with only one cane. His first words
were, "I'm afraid he has missed it."
"Missed what?" thought the gentlemen,
and finally after many efforts to quiet
him enough for conversation learned
from the old man that his son had
seen his first butterfly, that it was
white and that without more ado he
had snatched his old father's cane and
set off in pursuit. Still the old man
was perfectly willing to hobble along
as best he could, if only good luck and
prosperity could be procured by the
slaughter of the pretty little insect.
The color of its wings is due to what
seems to us a fine dust scattered
over them, but in reality this dust is
made up of little discs fastened by
stalks to the wings, arranged usually
in rows somewhat like the shingles on
a house.</p>
<p>Notice its two great round eyes and
remember that each of these is composed
of thousands of perfect little
eyes. Its trunk you will find coiled
up under its head and sometimes this
Butterfly of ours completes its toilet
by opening its trunk and cleaning it.
By the antennæ of the Butterfly you
can tell it from, the Moth, for those of
the former are immovable and furnished
with knobs, while those of the
other have not the knobs and can be
stowed away under the wings. If you
wish to distinguish the Butterfly from
the Moth, remember this fact, and also
that Butterflies fly only in the daytime
and always rest with the wings erect.
These facts are trustworthy, for no
Moth has ever been found to possess
all three of these characteristics,
though some do possess one or two.</p>
<p>Though curious in itself, its life
history is still more curious. Man, in
passing through his seven ages never
loses the distinguishing characteristics
which make him a man, but our Butterfly
as it passes through its three
ages changes so much that we seem,
while studying it to be studying three
distinct creatures—the Caterpillar, the
Chrysalis, and the Butterfly.</p>
<p>In the Caterpillar our dainty little
fairy presents itself as it appears in
its first stage, having just spent a few
days, or a month, or perhaps the whole
winter in the egg. It changes its old
skin many times during its Caterpillar
life of twenty or thirty days, at each
change gaining in weight and brilliancy,
until with the last it appears as
a Chrysalis "a legless, mummy-like
creature," which maintains its suspended
position by means of the hooks
on its tail or by a silken girth around
its body. A few days before the Butterfly
comes forth, it can be seen
through the thin cases. Finally the
skin on the back bursts open and the
little insect is free. For a few minutes
it stands with drooping wings.
Gradually the wings distend and in a
short while reach four times their
original size. Then our Butterfly
hastens away to carry its joyful
greeting to man and flower. So the
cycle of Butterfly life can thus be
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</SPAN></span>
indicated: Egg, Caterpillar, Chrysalis,
Butterfly, Egg.</p>
<table class="sp2 mc w50 p2" title="BUTTERFLIES." summary="BUTTERFLIES.">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><span class="ac w100 figcenter">
<SPAN name="i_047.jpg" id="i_047.jpg"> <ANTIMG style="width:100%"
src="images/i_047.jpg" width="464" height="600" alt="" /></SPAN></span>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30"> </td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">BUTTERFLIES.—Life-size.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Terias nicippe.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">Papilio Photenus.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Terias mexicana.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Colias philodice.</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">Limenitis ursula.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Junoina Cœnia.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Meganostoma eurydice (Male).</td>
<td class="x-smaller ac w40">Papilio philolaus.</td>
<td class="xx-smaller ac w30">Meganostoma eurydice (Female).</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Why they migrate is not known but
evidence enough has been brought in
by eye witnesses to prove that this
does occur. One flight seen in Switzerland
lasted for two hours, the continuous
stream of insects being ten or
fifteen feet wide and made up of the
species called the Painted Lady. Similar
companies have been seen at sea, as
Mr. Darwin bears witness, also before
and after tornadoes in certain places.
In Ceylon a gentlemen drove through
a cloud of white Butterflies for nine
miles. But very interesting to us, is a
great migration recorded to have been
seen in our own country, in Massachusetts,
about Oct. 1, 1876. These are
strange stories, but really hardly more
strange than other facts about these
little animals, graceful and beautiful
in form and motion, whose very
presence adds greatly to the charm of
mother Nature.</p>
<p>Such quantities of eggs are laid by
the Butterflies that if certain animals
did not contend against them, man
would not be able to withstand the
ravages of the Caterpillar. Man has
one powerful ally in the birds
which devour enormous quantities of
these eggs, but a still more powerful
ally is the Ichneumon Fly. This little
insect is a parasite through its grub
state and chooses as its host either the
egg of the Butterfly or the Caterpillar.
The full grown Fly lays its egg by
means of an ovipositor, a sharp, hollow
instrument with which it can
pierce the skin or shell of its victim.
The eggs of the fly hatch and the
grubs feed upon the Caterpillar, but
usually do not touch upon its vital
parts until it is full grown, then they
devour them and within the skin of
their former host form their own
cocoons. Sometimes they wait until
the Caterpillar assumes its Chrysalis
state before they finish their dread
work, then much to the surprise of
interested beholders, a little cluster of
flies appears at the breaking of the
cocoon, and no beautiful Butterfly.</p>
<p>Some of these brightly colored little
messengers of gladness live through
the winter. Usually they pass this
trying period wrapped warmly in the
cocoon or nestled under some leaf, still
a Chrysalis; but a few species weather
the cold and the snow and, shut up in
some hollow tree or some empty shed,
sleep away the happy days of Jack
Frost and Santa Claus and are ready
to awake with the spring, when they
are not abashed in their bedraggled
garments to appear among their
brothers, who come forth brightly
clad, fresh from the soft, warm resting
place of the cocoon.</p>
<p>Perhaps the marvelous migration of
Butterflies which occurred on Oct. 3,
1898, will be more interesting to us than
those already mentioned because it
happened so recently and in our own
country, and perhaps, most of all, because
the reason for flight is hazarded.
The inhabitants of Wichita, Kansas, at
3:15 o'clock in the afternoon of that day
were greeted with the sight of many
Butterflies flying south. Gradually
the number increased until business
practically ceased, the inhabitants all
turning out to view the brilliant spectacle.
The stream of yellow and
brown insects, with the accompanying
purr and brilliant effects of fluttering
wings flowed on until within a half an
hour of sunset, and even after this,
millions of stragglers hastened southward.
But you are interested in the
reason given? They say that our
little friends were driven away from
their customary haunts by the forest
fires in Colorado. This is only one
more supposition to add to the list
already awaiting some enterprising
student, who shall at last solve the
mystery of these wonderful flights and
fully acquaint us with all the other
interesting facts which our little Butterflies
are still keeping secret.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</SPAN></span></p>
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