i 4 2 THE EVOLUTIONIST AT LARGE. 



XV. 



BUTTERFLY PSYCHOLOGY. 



A SMALL red-and-black butterfly poises sta- 

 tuesque above the purple blossom of this tall 

 field-thistle. With its long sucker it probes 

 industriously floret after floret of the crowded 

 head, and extracts from each its wee drop of 

 buried nectar. As it stands just at present, 

 the dull outer sides of its four wings are 

 alone displayed, so that it does not form a 

 conspicuous mark for passing birds ; but 

 when it has drunk up the last drop of honey 

 from the thistle flower, and flits joyously 

 away to seek another purple mass of the 

 same sort, it will open its red-spotted vans in 

 the sunlight, and will then show itself off as 

 one among the prettiest of our native insects. 



