

CHAPTEE I. 



THE EGG. 

 x 



LIKE all other lepidopterous insects, the but- 

 terfly is well known to undergo peculiar and, to 

 outward appearance, very sudden transforma- 

 tions. The butterfly with maternal instinct lays 

 its eggs upon a certain food -plant ; this egg pro- 

 duces a worm-like animal called a caterpillar, 

 which feeds voraciously upon the plant, casts its 

 skin several times during its growth, and at the 

 last moulting emerges as a pupa or chrysalis ; at 

 this period the insect appears in swaddling- 

 clothes, all its appendages neatly encased upon 

 its breast, and itself almost completely helpless 

 and motionless ; to ordinary view as different as 

 possible from the aerial creature, with variegated 

 tremulous wings, we see shortly after, sipping 

 honey from an open flower, or dancing merrily in 

 the sunlight. Changes similar to these are now 

 known to occur throughout no inconsiderable 

 portion of the animal kingdom, but they are 

 most familiar to the popular mind, and were first 

 known to the ancients in the insect tribes, and 

 particularly in the butterflies. 



Our first chapters will deal with the earlier 



