310 THE ALDERMAN BUTTERFLY. 



more minutely than most people, perhaps, are in the habit of 

 doing, the manner in which the delicate delights of rest and 

 refreshment, provided for them by the flower, are turned to 

 account by these luxurious insects. Let us follow one to the 

 garden, 



'Where, he arriving, round about doth flic 



From bed to bed, from one to t'other border, 



And takes survey with curious busy eye, 



Of every flower and herbe there set in order ; 



Now this, now that, he tasteth tenderly, 

 Yet none of these he rudely doth disorder, 



Nc with his feete their silken leaves deface, 



But pastures on the pleasures of each place." 



Behold him seated on his velvet cushion, the corolla of an 

 aster or a single dahlia ; in its centre, his table of regalement, 

 on which a whole service of golden vases are set before him in 

 due order. His long spiral tongue has hitherto lain coiled 

 betwixt two side appendages, but now unrolling, he plunges 

 it to the bottom of a chosen chalice, then partially recurves, 

 and indraws his honied draught through the tube-like sucker. 

 Again and again, he quaffs like an " Alderman '' * as lie is. 

 We know him by his bulk and the richness of his furred and 

 velvet robes, scarlet and black, relieved with white. But see 

 how the rights and pleasures even of an Alderman Butterfly 

 are open to invasion ! Look at that impertinent prying 

 " Argus," t tired of his rustic fare in heath or meadow, and 

 hovering overhead, allured seemingly by sight or scent of 

 richer dainties wherein art has had a finger. Down he lights 



* Vanessa Atalanta, Alderman or Red Admiral Butterfly, 

 t Polyommatus Argus, P. Alexis, Common Blue Butterfly. 



