=The Monarch= _Anosia plexippus_ From June until October one may often see the stately Monarch flitting leisurely about over fields and meadows. It is one of the largest and most distinctive of these "frail children of the air" and may be easily recognized by its resemblance to the picture opposite page 241. The veins of the wings are heavily marked in black, with large white dots upon the black bands along the margin. The color of the rest of the wings both above and below is reddish brown. These butterflies come from the South in spring or early summer. They find milkweed plants and lay their eggs upon the leaves. These eggs soon hatch into small white and black caterpillars that feed upon the milkweed leaves and grow rapidly. One is likely to find them throughout most of the summer, wherever a milkweed shows partially eaten leaves. Bring in the half-grown caterpillars, place them in an open vivarium, and furnish fresh leaves every day or two. The caterpillars will soon mature and change to beautiful green chrysalids with golden markings. This chrysalis has been called "the glass house with the gold nails." (_See plates, pages 32-33, 241._) About two weeks later the glass house will burst open and the butterfly emerge. It will rest an hour or two while its wings and body harden and then it will want to fly away. It is not so anxious to do this, however, as most butterflies. If one is kept beneath a good-sized bell-glass, or in a glass-covered box, or even in a closed room, and fed with sweetened water it will soon become so tame that it will perch on one's finger and suck nectar from a flower held in one's hand. On this account it is a particularly desirable butterfly for the amateur photographer to cultivate, because he can easily get many interesting and beautiful pictures by posing the butterfly on different flowers. _The Change from Caterpillar to Butterfly_