70 PHENOMENA OF PLANT-LIFE. 



it is about to enter on the final stage of its chequered 

 life, and bequeathe a crowd of tiny eggs to the pro- 

 spective seasons, we find, I say, that it then 

 assumes those glorious wings that have made the 

 butterfly the type with many a theologian of the new 

 state after the resurrection. The egg-state of the 

 insect is almost negative ; in the grub or caterpillar 

 phase of its life few look on it except with disrelish ; 

 in the chrysalis phase it is again passive, and seems 

 to have dropped out of the ranks of living things. 

 This phase emerged from, and the wings assumed, or 

 rather disclosed, for they were already in the chrys- 

 alis, though imperfect, the little creature mounts 

 into the air, chases every fancy that impels to another 

 flower, sips a little honey, sports with its gay com- 

 panions, and displays those exquisitely beautiful atti- 

 tudes that art feels glad to immortalize. All this is 

 premonitory of the pairing-time of the insect, which 

 is thus in close conformity, as to incidents and circum- 

 stances, with that of the bird; while both series of 

 events and beautiful spectacles correspond again with 

 those that are manifested in the plant when the period 

 approaches for the ripening of the seed, which is only 

 another name for the elaboration of the fruit. By the 

 time the plant begins to blossom, it has ordinarily 

 acquired its perfect physiognomy, not necessarily 

 the full stature it is capable of reaching, but it shows 

 the perfection of its general profile. The idea of the 



