238 ANCESTRY AND CLASSIFICATION. 



by ways which man may apprehend, but has not 

 yet comprehended. 



Let ns now return to this question of classifica- 

 tion, in considering which we had only ascer- 

 tained the probable development of butterflies 

 from creatures similar in transformation to our 

 grasshoppers, and inquire how they are related to 

 other Lepidoptera. The more complicated struc- 

 ture, the more finished ornamentation, the more 

 complete and open metamorphoses, and the diur- 

 nal life of butterflies place them at once higher 

 than the moths, a position which has been uni- 

 versally accorded, and upon which it is not neces- 

 sary to linger. Let me simply mention one char- 

 acteristic, first noticed by Agassiz ; namely, that 

 the downward sloping position of the wings, 

 almost universally assumed by moths when at 

 rest, is very different from the erect position 

 which the wings of butterflies then assume ; and 

 that the former resembles the position of the 

 wings in the pupal state, while the latter differs 

 widely. 



We will attempt to draw a picture of the pri- 

 meval butterfly when it has so far advanced in 

 structure toward the tribes at present existing 

 that it is fairly butterfly and not moth. This 

 original form must have possessed not only most 

 of the features of the lowest family, but also, in a 

 nascent condition as it were, all or nearly all the 



