Butterflies and moths have always formed a favourite motif in Chinese decorative art, symbolizing life and gaiety. Chinese painters love to depict the graceful form and" gossamer wings of the dragon-fly. The spider, the scorpion and the centipede, none of which are true insects in the scientific meaning of the word, represent three of the Five Poisonous Creatures of Chinese symbolism, the other two being the toad and the serpent. All five are classed as insects by the Chinese.
The Chinese love of insects is best revealed in their practise of keeping crickets in tiny cages or gourd containers. A book has been written on The Bobbing Grasshopper rede 5. a T OMIT MEIN Eta ae UT: in dá! farmers' calendar, for it is by following it that the Chinese husbandman knows when to prepare his ground, when to sow his grain and when to stürt harvesting his crop.
In the course of their long history the Chinese have noticed certain napa phenomena coinciding with certain seasons in this solar calendar of theirs, and have named the fortnightly periods accord gly. This system provides a very accurate chart of the seasons, which anyone living in China would do well to heed. it would be a good idea for printers of foreign calendars for use in China to mark these periods on them. This might prevent many cases of pneumonia, since the warnings of weather changes thus supplied could always be regarded as accurate. As a matter of interest the 24 fortnightly periods are included in the list of festivals in the "China Hong List" issued annually by the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.