Bob expressed his contrition, and redoubled his efforts to find what the professor sought, but to no end. The Vanessa antiopa seemed to have deserted Fox Swamp.
“Ah, here’s a butterfly. Sure, this time!” cried Bob a little later. “I’m not sure it’s the kind you want, but I know it isn’t a leaf, Professor.”
The scientist hurried to the spot where Bob stood, and this time there was no accident. But again came a look of disappointment to the face of Professor Snodgrass.
“Isn’t that a butterfly?” asked Bob. “See, it’s moving away. Why don’t you get it?” for the professor did not move his net.
“It’s a moth, not a butterfly,” said the scientist, “and I have enough of that variety.”
“A moth!” exclaimed Ned. “It looked just like a butterfly.”
“Some moths are hard to distinguish from butterflies,” the professor went on. “They are quite different in their habits, however. Butterflies fly by day, and like the sunshine. Moths, on the other hand, are night-flying insects, though there are exceptions to both rules.”
“How can you tell a butterfly from a moth?” Jerry asked with interest.
“The best way, for an amateur, is to tell by the antennæ, or feelers. In a butterfly the feelers are thread-like, and have a small knob, or club, on the end, and naturalists give them the name rhopalocera, formed of two Greek nouns, one meaning a ‘club’ and the other a ‘horn.’