utterflies; and the animal
remains within, generally for some time, in a dormant state;--all the
time, however, making a slow progress towards its development. Now,
Rollo's great chrysalis remained in a conspicuous position, upon the
middle shelf in the cabinet, for some weeks. Rollo always insisted, when
he showed it to visitors, that it was a hemlock-seed. Jonas said he knew
it was not; and he did not believe it was any kind of seed. But then he
confessed that he did not know what it was, and Rollo considered that he
had his father's authority for believing it to be a hemlock-seed,
because his father had said he thought it might be so, judging however
only by Rollo's description, without having seen it at all. Rollo always
asserted very confidently that it was a hemlock-seed, and that he was
going to plant it the next spring.

In the mean time, the humble caterpillar within, unconscious of the
conspicuous position to which he had been elevated, and the
distinguished marks of attention he received from many visitors, went
slowly on in his progress towards a new stage of being. When the time
was fully come, he very coolly gnawed a hole in one end of his glossy
shell, and laboriously pushed himself through, his broad and beautiful
wings folded up compactly by his side. When he was fairly liberated, he
stood for two hours perfectly silent and motionless upon the shelf,
while his wings gradually expanded, and assumed their proper form and
dimensions. It was rather dark, for the doors were closed; and yet
sufficient light came through the crevices of Jonas's cabinet, to enable
him to see the various objects around him, though he took very little
notice of them. It was a strange thing for him to be shut up in such a
place, with no green trees, or grass, or flowers around; but having
never turned into a butterfly before, he did not know that there was any
thing unusual in his situation.

He began, however, in the course of six hours, to feel decidedly hungry;
so he thought he would creep along in search of something to eat. He
tried his proboscis upon one curiosity after another, in vain. The
magnet, the sucker, pebbles, shells, books, every thing was hard, dry
and tasteless; and at length, discouraged and in despair, he clambered
up upon Jonas's specimen of maple, poised his broad, black, leopard-like
wings over his back, and hung his head in mute despair. He would have
given all his newborn glories for one single supper fr