Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-07-14
BUTTERFLY FARMING.
Artificial Matching of the Creature Of
Sunshine and Moonbeams.

nO 1L1kF LII fAIMINSI.
Artificial Matching of the Creature Of
Sunshine and Moonbeams.
Whoever is looking for 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
i'll 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 Lytton's tale, who
indulged such nice, fine fancies as keen
ing pet butterflies in Il 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 {:
splendid development, and then pass
by a kind Of metempsychosis from the
catalogue of the living to that of dead
specimens" in the London geological
gardens, is thus described by writer
in the Spectator:
| 'The glass cases, filled with damp
moss and earth, and adorned with por-
tions of tree trunks or plants suited to
the habits of the moths, are peopled
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, fiIttering 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 missel 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 gi-
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 the feathers of the mara
bout, or the plumes of swans. Others
are wrapped in a silky mantle like an
Angora kitten, or CLOTHED in errnine
and sables.
In the Ceropian silk-motilS, some
five or six of which were preening
their feathery wings on the lichen-cov-
cred bark Of an ancient oak-hunk, tho
body seems thickly wrapped in fca-
theirs, and like the wings, is of an
exquisite mottled grey, the color Of
the natural wool of the Cashmere goat
But the legs, antennae, and parts Of
the wings are boldly painted rich
red madder-brown. The Indian moon
moth is perhaps the most delicate In
bats wings. But the wings of the
moth have not yet been appropriated
to the human embodiment of the I'M
seen deniZenS of the air. There is q
sofness and reserve of coloring, and
an uncertainty of outline in the moths
wing, which mark it at once as some
thing distinct from the sharply cut,
and brilliantly colored forms of their
butterfly relations"
I'm their scheme of color" the writ
err continues, "the butterflies are to
the moths what the fabrics of Europe
are to the webs Of Cashmere or the
carpets of Daghestan. A score of the
lovely swallow tailed butterflies futter
| in their cage. The bottom of their
glass mansion is covered with short
pieces of osier-stick, each one Of which
IS pierced up the center with a tunnel,
at the end Of which lies the pupa Of
that strange instance Of protective
mimicry, the hornet clear-wing An
tT.fI1 g, ELL -
variety of the swallow tail, and a third
of the American swallow-tail, the
female of which is black, spangled with
What seems a shining dust of sapphires.
But perhaps the most beautiful OF all
coloring of all. The wings, which would
reach from side to side Of the paper
on which the present description is
printed, are of the pa1est green, the
tint of the aqua-marine The uniform
faint color is only broken by a few
crescent spots Of a darker tint But
the whole of the front edge Of the
wing is bound in velvet, Of the color
of dark red wine. The body is wrapped
in thick and downy feathers Of the
purest white, from which the soft legs
and feet emerge, stained to match the
claret edging Of the wing. Across the
head and lying back against the dark
shoulders, are fern-shaped antennae Of
pale green.
Thus, the lovely creature possesses
r'ree hues- green, claret color
and white; but these are so graded
and distributed, and so modified by the
contrasted beauty of the texture Of
the semi-transparent wing, the thick
and downy body, and the delicate flesh
like legs, that the creature seems rather
the realization of some painters dream
than one among hundreds of silk-pro-
ducing insects. We once heard the
generic difference between angels and
fairies stated with all the certainty
which was due to the youth Of the
speaker: Angels have birds wings,
ri fairdes have butterflies wings
If coursev was the indignant answer
% the difficulty raised. Imps, too. have
with beaded lines Of yellow; ye;lw