122 PSYCHOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES 



piest describers of the habits of beasts and birds] a 

 pretty butterfly, the Red Admiral, alighted upon my 

 knee as I was writing, and seemed wholly at ease in this 

 unusual position. Something upon my clothes was 

 attractive to it, and the graceful movements of its pro- 

 boscis, and occasional down-dipping of one antenna and 

 then the other, were amusing. I noticed that the right 

 and left wing moved separately down and up, as though 

 to retain the creature's balance, which the wind threat- 

 ened, and at each such movement of the wings the cor- 

 responding antennae likewise dipped. This butterfly 

 occasionally flew to the bushes near by, but never to 

 remain long away, and sooner or later returned and was 

 my comj)anion for a great part of the day." 



Instances of the vivacious and inquisitive ways of 

 these butterflies are numerous. The entomologist 

 cannot fail to be aware of them. Seeing one 

 alight upon the tip of a bough near by he strikes 

 at it with his net, only to see it fly off in an appar- 

 ent paroxysm of terror, while if he but stop a mo- 

 ment he will see the runaway return, dash about 

 him, and alight again upon the self-same spot in 

 a defiant way, flirting its wings up and down, as 

 who should say, "Try it again, will you?" For 

 there is much that is sportive as well in the ways 

 of many butterflies. One of my favorite modes of 

 showing this characteristic to unbelieving friends 



