Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1893-07-15
BUTTERFLY FARMING.
Artificial Matching of the Creature Of
Sunshine and MoOnbeams.

Whoever is looking for a delicate and
elegant occupation is recommended
TO attend to this news Of the provision
Of an opportunity They are raising
butterflies in London; and with fewer
difficulties than are encountered out
west in ostrich farming, or at Hamburg
! in tiger breeding 1t is the realization
! of a piece Of romance which was con
sidered extravagant and impossible
when first suggested by that airy
heroine in Bulwer Lyttons tale who
INDUCED such nice, fine fancies rs keep
| ing pet butterflies in a cage, and break
ing her heart over and over as each
one folded its gossamer wings and
died.
Butterflies are short lived creatures.
How they are reared from grubs to a
splendid development, and then pass
by kind Of metempsychosis from the
catalogue Of the living to that of dead
specimens" in the London geological
gardens, is thus described by a writer
in the Spectator:
The glass cases, filed with damp
moss and earth and adorned with por-
tons of tree trunks or plants suited to
! the habits Of the moths, are pcOped
| by these exquisite and delicate crea-
lures, as one after another separates
itself from the chrysalis case in which
1t has been sleeping all the winter,
and futtering upwards with weak and
uncertain movements exposes its full
beauties to the light The wings Of
the largest kind, such as the great
orange-brOWn Atlas moth are as wide
as those Of a missed thrush; and the
great size Of this and other species
increases the strange likeness to bird
forms which is SO marked even in the
smaller English hawk moths. The 81
ant moths of the tropics, unlike the
rest of the insect world, have faces
and features not devoid of expression,
Some resemble birds, others cats.
Some are covered with long, soft plu-
mage, like me feathers of the mara
bout, or the plumes Of swans. Others
are wrapped in a silky mantle like On
Angora kitten, or CLOTHED in ermine
and sables
In the Ceropian silk-moths. some
five or six of which We're preening
their feathery wings on the Hchen-cov.
cred bark Of an ancient trunk, the
body seems thickly wrapped in fea
Tiers, and ike the wings, is of an
exquisite notified grey, the color OF
the natural wool Of the Cashmere goat
But the legs, antennae, and parts OF
the wings are boldly painted a ricl
red madder-brOwn. The Indian moon
z moth is perhaps the most delicate il
bats wings. But the wings of the
moth have not yet been appropriated
to the human embodiment Of the I'm
seen deuizenS of the air. There is &
softness and reserve Of coloring, ant
an uncertainty OF outline in the moths
wing, which mark it at once as some
thing distinct from the sharply cut
Land brilliantly colored forms Of thei,
butterfly relations"
In their scheme of color" the writ
er continues, the butterflies are t.
, the moths what the fabrics of Europ'
are to the webs Of Cashmere or thu
lovely swallow tailed butterflies flute
in their cage. The bottom of thei
glass mansion IS covered with Shor
, pieces of oSier-stick each one of which
is pierced up the center with a tunnel
- ut the end Of which lies the pupa o
, that strange instance Of protective
mimicry, the hornet clear-wing. An
, other case is full Of the scarce pal
variety Of the swallow-tal, and thir,
, of the American sWallow-tail. IN
! female of which is black, spangled Wit
= what seems a shining dust of Sapplire>
But perhaps the most beautiful Of a
: coIoring of all. The wings, which woul'
reach from side 70 side Of the pape
, on which the present description
printed. are Of the palest green, th
tint Of the aqua-marine. The uniforr
q faint color is only broken by fey
! crescent spots of a darker tint Bu
~, ,r}a1g IF tho front edge of tn