112 THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFE CHAP. 



life of flowers and animals alike odours are very impor- 

 tant. We know, too, that certain odours make much 

 impression upon us ; such as those of hawthorn and of 

 the hay-field, of newly-mown grass and of withered 

 leaves, of violet and of lavender ; and furthermore, that 

 in some mysterious way some fragrances excite or soothe 

 the system, and have become associated with sexual and 

 other emotions. 



2. Love and Care for Offspring. Gradual as the in- 

 coming of spring has been the blossoming of parental 

 love among animals. We cannot tell in what forms it 

 first appeared in distinctness. We cannot say Lo here ! 

 or Lo there ! for it is latent in them all. 



In many of the lower animals the units which begin 

 new lives are readily separated from the parent ; but in 

 others, e.g. some of the simplest, or some by no means 

 simple 'worms," and even some insects, the parent life 

 disappears in giving birth to the young. Reproduction 

 or the continuance of the species often involves a sacri- 

 fice of the individual life. 



It is strangely true, even in the highest forms, that 

 reproduction, though a blossoming of the whole life, is 

 also the beginning of death. It is costly, and brings 

 death as well as life in its train. This is tragically illus- 

 trated by many insects, such as butterflies, who die soon 

 after reproducing, though often not before they have, 

 in obedience to instinctive impulse, cared most effectively 

 for their eggs the results of w r hich they do not live to 

 see. Think also of the mayflies, or Ephemerid?c, who, 

 after a prolonged aquatic life as larva:', become winged, 

 dance in the sunlight for an hour, mate and reproduce, 

 and die. 



Picture the long larval life in the water, and the short 

 aerial happiness lasting for an evening or two. Long 

 life, compared with the span of many other insects, but 

 short love ; there may be years of patience, and but a 

 day of pleasure ; great preparations, and the anti-climax 

 of death. The eggs develop in the water, and many of 

 them arc eaten by trout. In the survivors the embryos 

 become integrated, awaken from their dreaming, and 



