HIGH LIFE, 109 



belt on the mountain-sides, the butterflies in turn have things all 

 their own way. They flit about like monarchs of all they survey, 

 without a rival in the world to dispute their supremacy. 



And how does the preponderance of butterflies in the upper 

 regions of the air affect the color and brilliancy of the flowers ? 

 Simply thus : Bees, as we are all aware on the authority of the 

 great Dr. Watts, are industrious creatures which employ each 

 shining hour (well-chosen epithet, " shining ") for the good of the 

 community, and to the best purpose. The bee, in fact, is the Tjon 

 bourgeois of the insect world : he attends strictly to business, loses 

 no time in wild or reckless excursions, and flies by the straightest 

 path from flower to flower of the same species with mathemati- 

 cal precision. Moreover, he is careful, cautious, observant, and 

 steady-going — a model business man, in fact, of sound middle- 

 class morals and sober middle-class intelligence. No flitting for 

 him, no coquetting, no fickleness. Therefore, the flowers that 

 have adapted themselves to his needs, and that depend upon him 

 mainly or solely for fertilization, waste no unnecessary material 

 on those big, flaunting colored posters which we human observers 

 know as petals. They have, for the most part, simple blue or 

 purple flowers, tubular in shape and, individually, inconspicuous 

 in hue ; and they are oftenest arranged in long spikes of blossom 

 to avoid wasting the time of their winged Mr. Bultitudes. So long 

 as they are just bright enough to catch the bee's eye a few yards 

 away, they are certain to receive a visit in due season from that 

 industrious and persistent commercial traveler. Having a circle 

 of good customers upon whom they can depend with certainty 

 for fertilization, they have no need to waste any large propor- 

 tion of their substance upon expensive advertisements or gaudy 

 petals. 



It is just the opposite with butterflies. Those gay and irre- 

 pressible creatures, the fashionable and frivolous element in the 

 insect world, gad about from flower to flower over great distances 

 at once, and think much more of sunning themselves and of 

 attracting their fellows than of attention'to "business. And the 

 reason is obvious, if one considers for a moment the difference in 

 the political and domestic economy of the two opposed groups. 

 For the honey-bees are neuters, sexless purveyors of the hive, 

 with no interest on earth save the storing of honey for the com- 

 mon benefit of the phalanstery to which they belong. But the 

 butterflies are full-fledged males and females, on the hunt through 

 the world for suitable partners: they think far less of feeding 

 than of displaying their charms ; a little honey to support them 

 during their flight is all they need : "For the bee, a long round 

 of ceaseless toil ; for me," says the gay butterfly, " a short life and 

 a merry one." Mr. Harold Skimpole needed only " music, sun- 



