LESSON XXII.
REAL LIVE FAIRY.
One September morning I took Hermie, and went over the hill, to the windmill. The hillside was covered with wild carrot, golden-rod, asters, white, purple, and pink. Near the windmill was a late wild-rose, in full bloom.
THE LIGHT BRIGADE.
THE LIGHT BRIGADE.
Right in the golden centre of the rose, on the stamens and pistils, I saw what might be two fine jewels, and the coiled-up spring of a fairy watch. On theground, among the rose-leaves, lay four lovely fans, in black and gold. They looked as if the fairy-queen and her court ladies might have dropped them, as they came home late from a ball.
I put all these things on a piece of white paper. Then I sat on a stone, took out my microscope, and said to Hermie, “Look here!”
“O!” cried Hermie, “these are the head and wings of a poor butterfly! But where is his body gone?”
“A bird has eaten it,” I said; “see, the bird’s bill has takenin the body and clipped off the wings, and just missed the head, which has dropped off. These are not the relics of a fairy ball, but of a cruel murder.”
“I do not see,” said Hermie, “how a butterfly, which flits so fast, could be picked up so.”
We looked about the leaves of a wild-carrot, and, on the under side of two or three, safe from the wet, we found a cluster of pale greenish eggs. “See,” I said, “the bird dipped down, and picked up the butterfly, while it was clinging to the leaf, laying its eggs.
“Or, perhaps the eggs were all laid, and the butterfly was resting on the bush. Many of these insects die, soon after the eggs are laid. When the eggs are safely placed, the insect seems to feel tired and dull.”
Then we looked at the black and yellow wings through the microscope. “See all these little scales and plumes!” said Hermie. “They lie thick as a bird’s feathers! Once I put a butterfly in a box. When I let him out, the box was all dusted over with gold dust. But the butterfly did not lookbare. He seemed as well dressed as ever.”
Then we looked at the head. “What big eyes!” said Hermie, “and that curled-up thing is his mouth.I have seen him drinking with it out of flowers. I do think butterflies are the prettiest things that are made!”
Many persons think the butterflies are the most beautiful of all the insects. Next to the beetles they are the most numerous order. They have, also, been the most studied. Let us look at them a little.
The butterflies belong to the great order of the scale-wings. To this order belong two groups of very beautiful insects. We will look at them. They are the butterflies and the moths.
The butterflies are insects of the day. The moths are generally insects of the night. Even when the moths fly by day they can be easily known from the butterflies. The butterfly always has a knob or a point on the end of his horns. The ends of the moth’s horns are pointed.
When the butterfly is at rest, his wings are held up and laid flat against each other. Thus the top sides are hidden, and the under sides show. His wings are called vans.
The moth rests with his wings folded along his body or laid out flat. They cling close to what he rests upon. If they bend at all, they bend downward, not upward. The body of the moth is shorter and thicker, more wedge-shaped, than that of the butterfly.
Now, for a look at our butterfly. The head is small and moves freely. It is not set in a socket to the body, but held by a little neck. On each side of the head is a great, bright eye with many thousand facets, or surfaces.
At the back of the head of a butterfly are generally two small, simple eyes. These are usually hidden under long hairs. Do you see the soft hairs which clothe all the butterfly’s body? For you must notice that the butterfly wears an elegant, soft, velvet coat of fine hairs. This coat is usually black or brown. But it has often stripes or spots of a lighter color.
On the top of the head the butterfly carries a pair of many-jointed horns. As I told you, the ends of these are little knobs.
The chief part of the mouth of the butterfly is a tube, called a trunk. Did you ever notice the big trunk of an elephant? The butterfly’s trunk is small. It is coiled up like a watch-spring when it is not in use. The butterfly can unroll it. It is so slim he can thrust it into the longest and narrowest flower cups.
Really this trunk is made of two pieces with little points upon them. These two parts lie together and seem one. Between them the honey is drawnup. You must know that butterflies live chiefly on honey. It is not likely that they take much other kind of food, but they are fond of water. Have you seen them in damp places?
When the fine trunk of the butterfly is curled up it is kept safe by two hairy pieces which grow on the front of the head.
The butterfly has six legs that grow from the chest part of its body. But the butterfly is not a walking insect. Bees, wasps, ants, and beetles, you know, walk a great deal. Butterflies rarely use their legs for anything but standing when they eat or rest. They move only by flying.
The wings are made of two thin skin-pieces laid upon a framework of nerves or veins. They are covered with a double layer of scales. The edge scales are long and fringe-like. The upper and under sides of the wings differ in color.
The upper wings are widest. They have smooth edges, and are of a triangle-shape. The lower wings are rounded. They have waved or pointed edges. Sometimes they have two long points like tails.
The body of the butterfly is made in rings, but they are soft, not horny like those of a dragon-fly. The body is slender and has no weapon. It has no sting to fight, and no saw to cut wood to make a place for its eggs.