Four feet, wings, and fins . thereis little to tell. They fly about in the sunshine,instead of at night like moths, but you may findthem on trees, the old ones laying their eggs, andthe caterpillars undergoing their metamorphosis inthe same way as does the silk-worm, only theircocoons are useless to man. Butterflies are moreelegant in form and graceful in motion than feed on the nectar of flowers, which they suckup with their long proboscides. The large whitebutterfly lays its eggs on the under side of cabbageleaves, the caterpillars being very destructive to theplants. The butterfl
Four feet, wings, and fins . thereis little to tell. They fly about in the sunshine,instead of at night like moths, but you may findthem on trees, the old ones laying their eggs, andthe caterpillars undergoing their metamorphosis inthe same way as does the silk-worm, only theircocoons are useless to man. Butterflies are moreelegant in form and graceful in motion than feed on the nectar of flowers, which they suckup with their long proboscides. The large whitebutterfly lays its eggs on the under side of cabbageleaves, the caterpillars being very destructive to theplants. The butterfly called the purple emperorlives upon the topmost branches of the great oak;its caterpillar is green with oblique white there are the peacock butterflies and themarsh fritillaries and many others. A very prettysight in summer is a cluster of roses around whichbutterflies are flying as if in an ecstasy of a gay creature gets entangled in the cruelthorns and during its efforts to escape loses, per- 410. MORE ABOUT INSECTS. chance, a wing, perchance its own bright pretty now I will tell you a story true in everyrespect, of my four butterflies, or moths, as I after-wards found them to be. On coming home, fromschool one night I found a grey chrysalid on a fence-rail. I tore it from the rail, to the surprise of mylittle companions, who said there was nothing in itbut some ugly spiders, but I assured them therewould a butterfly come out sometime, and I wantedto see what kind of a one it would be, so I took ithome and placed it on the mantel-piece in thedining-room. I had found it early in April, but nosigns of a butterfly were seen until the middle ofJune. I had almost lost faith and interest in mychrysalid, when one night, on coming home fromschool I saw something clinging to the blue nettingthat was wrapped around the mirror. It was not abutterfly, but a large moth, with an immense body,and with great broad wings, the insect measuring,from tips of w
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1879
