PREFACE

This is a true story of a Monarch butterfly. It was one of thousands of Monarchs tagged by Dr. Fred Urquhart of the University of Toronto, Canada in his interesting studies of butterfly migration. After being released, this Monarch flew southward across the United States and on to Estacíon Catorce (Station Fourteen) in the State of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where it was captured again.

Unfortunately, the records relating to this Monarch butterfly have been destroyed, so we do not know what the number was on the tag attached to its wing, nor do we know whether it was male or female...So, in this story, we will call our butterfly Monarch X. Only the beginning and the end of the journey of Monarch X are definitely known...

Through autumn gales, across rivers, and through forests where there were many enemies, it traveled. Day by day, from September 18, 1957 to January 25 of the following year, Monarch X winged its way along with many others. In imagination, let us follow its wanderings as it flew, like a migrating bird, across this vast continent to its final destination nearly two thousand miles away.

—R.E.H.