not.
Up, up the hill they trudged, stepping over blow-downs, following their
footing carefully, and watching with interest the little animals that
scampered out of their way. But never did packs grow so heavy, and at
last Mrs. Reece, who was carrying nothing but Jack's camera, sat down
panting and laughing.
"I can't go a step farther," she declared, "until I catch my breath."
"This is a good place to rest," assented the guide. "Some deer found it
so this morning, I think. Here, catch that butterfly, Jack!"
In a flash Jack had caught the butterfly, and brought it, gently, to Ben
Gile.
"You don't see this fellow up here often. Who knows the difference
between a butterfly and a moth? No one? Well, that is because most
children are going to bed about the time the moth begins to fly. Doesn't
any one know? You have all seen moths and butterflies? Well, well, well!
"The first thing you see is that when the moth lights on the edge of a
flower-cup, instead of holding the wings up above the body, as the
butterfly does, it spreads its wings flat over the body. Then a
butterfly has little knobs at the tips of its slender antennae, while
the moth has slender ones without knobs, or pretty, feathery ones that
look like plumes."
"I supposed," said Peter, "that moths and butterflies were just the
same, except that moths will fly into the house and burn their wings on
the lamps." Peter didn't in the least care about moths and butterflies.
He was longing to get to the top of the mountain, but he was too polite
to seem impatient.
"They are alike in many ways. You remember, do you not, that the locust
has a pair of soft jaws covering over the dark, hard ones? In the moths
and butterflies these jaws are different. Each one is long, and has a
deep groove on the inner side. These two grooves fit together, and make
a slender tube called a proboscis. When flying this long tube is rolled
up in a tight coil under the head; alighting, the proboscis is quickly
uncoiled and dipped into the throat of the flower, and the sweet nectar
sipped from it. See here, Jack, what have you on your fingers?"
"The dust from the butterfly's wings, sir."
"No, not quite dust, or powder, either. That dust is tiny hair and
scales. If I had a powerful lens in my pocket I could show you how
deeply some of these tiny scales are scalloped, so that they look like a
hand with fingers. If you rubbed all the scales off that wing there
would be no color le
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