XXL 



BUTTERFLIES AT NIGHT AND AT SEA 



Butterflies are creatures of the land and of 

 the day. No aquatic stage is known, or one that 

 is aquatic in any stage of its existence. They love 

 the sun and warmth, being essentially tropical ani- 

 mals, every one of the larger groups decreasing in 

 representatives in passing from the tropics towards 

 the poles. They rarely undergo their transforma- 

 tions other than above the ground, and mostly in 

 midsummer. They fly by day, and generally by 

 brightest day and in clearest weather. Yet there 

 are some groups which love the forest gloom, and 

 a few which, in tropical countries, favor the twi- 

 light. There are a few, too, which venture to 

 make their homes in the frigid zones, and on high 

 and bleak mountain summits. There are, how- 

 ever, exceptions to nearly every general rule, and 

 a few of them may be related here. 



About fifteen years ago, I was spending the 

 summer on the island of Nantucket. The under- 



