212 BUTTERFLY PSYCHOLOGY. 



of the accepted doctrine of sexual selection ? 

 And if they appreciate each other's beauty, 

 what is to hinder our believing that they 

 enjoy also the bright colors and dainty 

 shapes of the flowers on which they feed ? 

 As I came out upon the veranda of a sum- 

 mer hotel, two or three friends exclaimed : 



" Oh, Mr. , you should have been here 



a few minutes ago ; you would have seen 

 something quite in your line. A butterfly 

 was fluttering over the lawn, and noticing 

 what it took for a dandelion, it was just 

 settling down upon it, when lo, the dande- 

 lion moved, and proved to be a goldfinch ! " 

 Evidently the insect had an eye for color, 

 and was altogether like one of us in its 

 capacity for being deceived. 



To butterflies, as to angels, all things are 

 pure. They extract honey from the vilest 

 of materials. But their tastes and propen- 

 sities are in some respects the very opposite 

 of angelic ; being, in fact, thoroughly hu- 

 man. All observers must have been struck 

 with their quite Hibernian fondness for a 

 shindy. Two of the same kind seldom 

 come within hail of each other without a 

 little set-to, just for sociability's sake, as it 



