A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



to do? She has no example set her; she has never seen such a thing 

 as a Palm-lily when she emerges from the cocoon; yet she flies to 

 this plant, and no other, in order to perform her complicated task 

 for the first and only time in her life. 



Truly, this behaviour shows us that so far from the moth reflect- 

 ing and acting deliberately, she is merely an unconscious instrument, 

 and has no conception of the meaning of her actions. But not only 

 is her instinct orientated toward this particular flower; her body 

 too, with its pollen-scraper and ovipositor, is constructed for co- 

 operation with the Palm-lily, and the plant itself has adapted its 

 flowers to this very insect. 



The moth has long been dead when the caterpillar emerges ; she 

 never sees the result of her labours. She should teach us, then, that 

 the events of our lives, and the deeds and destinies of peoples, though 

 to us they often seem aimless and void of meaning, may yet have 

 come to pass as they should for the great Becoming. From the 

 smallest moth to man himself, all things sow the seed of that which 

 is to be, and which will come to pass even as Necessity decrees. 



