ch. x.] Butterflies. 201 



small black pupil, and its entire body in the warm limp- 

 ness of death exhaled such a repulsive musky odour, far 

 worse than any downright stink I ever experienced, and 

 so penetrating and adhesive, that my hands smelt of it for 

 days, in spite of carbolic soap and repeated washings. I 

 had no means of ascertaining whether this is really a 

 distinct species, or whether it is conspecific with the 

 large nocturnal fruit-bat of Borneo, immense flocks of 

 which may be seen passing overhead at dusk to their 

 feeding-grounds, the fruit orchards. 



Of all the smaller forms of animal life in temperate 

 countries the butterflies are the most absolutely beau- 

 tiful. In the tropics they are especially so, being there 

 found of the largest size and most lovely hues. In the 

 rice fields and by the open pathways, lively little golden- 

 winged kinds flutter in the sunshine. Some are quite 

 wholly golden, others amber, with black fringes to their 

 wings; many varieties enliven the river margins, and 

 others sail aloft around the tops of the great forest trees. 

 The nearly dry bed of a forest stream is an attractive 

 spot to many of the finest tropical butterflies, especially 

 if it be chequered with shade and sunshine. In such a 

 place they may be seen by the hundred, flitting, flutter- 

 ing, skimming or wobbling to and fro, enlivening the 

 cool greenery with their colour, beauty, and variety of 

 motion. Here you see them at home and happy. Their 

 colours defy description, so variable do they appear as 

 seen in the sunlight ; sulphur and black, amber and blue, 

 velvety bands, purple shot with bronze, wings of blue, 

 inclining to green, and of green inclining to blue, and 

 of velvety blackness banded with pea or apple-green, are 

 only a few of their combinations. Their beauty of 

 presence is so satisfying, that we almost forget their life 

 history, the egg so dainty in form, and often so beautiful 



