BUTTERFLY PSYCHOLOGY. 211 



more appropriate for Easter ! I thought. 

 These were some who had been dead, and 

 behold, they were alive again. 



Then, as before under the linden-tree, I 

 fell to wondering. What were they think- 

 ing about, these creatures so lately born a 

 second time ? Did they remember their 

 last year's existence ? And what could 

 they possibly make of this brown and deso- 

 late world, so unlike the lingering autumnal 

 glories in the midst of which, five or six 

 months before, they had " fallen asleep " ? 

 Perhaps they had been dreaming. In any 

 event, they could have no idea of the ice 

 and snow, the storms and the frightful cold, 

 through which they had passed. It was 

 marvelous how such frail atoms had with- 

 stood such exposure ; yet here they were, 

 as good as new, and so happily endowed 

 that they had no need to wait for blossoms, 

 but could draw fresh life from the very 

 mire of the street. 



This last trait, so curiously out of char- 

 acter, as it seems to us, suggests one further 

 inquiry : Have butterflies an aesthetic fac- 

 ulty ? They appreciate each other's adorn- 

 ments, of course. Otherwise, what becomes 



