6
I Approached and examined the box he held. It was perforated with finely drilled holes for the admission of air, and within it lay a brilliant winged insect coloured with all the tints and half-tints of the rainbow.
"Is it alive?" I asked.
"It is alive, and has a sufficient share of intelligence,"— replied Rimanez. "I feed it, and it knows me,—that is the utmost you can say of the most civilized human beings; they know what feeds them. It is quite tame and friendly as you perceive,"—and opening the case he gently advanced his forefinger. The glittering beetle's body palpitated with the hues of an opal, its radiant wings expanded, and it rose at once to its protector's hand and clung there. He lifted it out and held it aloft, then shaking it to and fro lightly, he exclaimed—
"Off, Spr
