Mary D. Barber

“ This butterfly appears in immense swarms every year early in September at Bolinas, a sheltered haven on the coast of California, about ten miles north of the Golden Gate.
A southerly beach walled by high bluffs, a quaint little village which consists of trim cottages set in pretty, old-fashioned 5 gardens; wide stretches of sunny mesa, broken here and there by arroyos and groves of cypress trees, make up a picturesque landscape; while to the south and westward rolls the vast Pacific, the ceaseless surging of its surf on the smooth sand a never-ending delight to the ear. ”

“ This caterpillar forms a chrysalis about an inch long, green spotted with gold. The Monarch butterfly emerges from this chrysalis, unfurls its wings, draws its sustenance from the milkweed blossoms, lays its eggs and lives happily in the high altitudes till the 7 chill of approaching autumn in the air warns it that the time for migrating has come. Thousands of these frail butterflies start on their long journey toward the Pacific, in search of a mild climate, free from frost and snow, in which they can live all winter. ”

“ It is certainly a mystery that a newly arrived flock should choose the identical 12 tree which was the home of their predecessors the winter before; for they migrate but to end their days, and can not return to show the way to their progeny which will hatch next spring into stupid caterpillars having no desire but to eat till their time for sleep arrives. The instinct or intelligence of the awakened butterfly is inexplicable. ”