io8 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



sun of the southern counties it is still but 

 in the bud among the Scotch hills, I doubt 

 not specially lays itself out for the humble- 

 bee, and its masses form about his highest 

 pasture-grounds ; but the butterflies insect 

 vagrants that they are have no fixed home, 

 and they therefore stray far above the level 

 at which bee-blossoms altogether cease to 

 grow. Now, the butterfly differs greatly 

 from the bee in his mode of honey-hunting ; 

 he does not bustle about in a business-like 

 manner from one buttercup or dead-nettle to 

 its nearest fellow ; but he flits joyously, like 

 a sauntering straggler that he is, from a great 

 patch of colour here to another great patch 

 at a distance, whose gleam happens to strike 

 his roving eye by its size and brilliancy. 

 Hence, as that indefatigable observer, Dr. 

 Hermann Muller, has noticed, all Alpine or 

 hill-top flowers have very large and con- 

 spicuous blossoms, generally grouped to- 

 gether in big clusters so as to catch a passing 

 glance of the butterfly's eye. As soon as the 



