THE BUTTERFLY. 



499 



like a lady's fan : on the contrary, those of 

 butterflies actually grow to their natural size 

 in this very short space. The wing, at the 

 instant it is freed from its late confinement, is 

 considerably thicker than afterwards ; so that 

 it spreads in all its dimensions, growing thin- 

 ner as it becomes broader. If one of the wings 

 be plucked from the animal just set free, it may 

 be spread by the fingers, and it will soon be- 

 come as broad as the other which has been 

 left behind. As the wings extend themselves 

 so suddenly, they have not yet had time to 

 dry; and accordingly appear like pieces of 

 wet paper, soft and full of wrinkles. In 

 about half an hour they are perfectly dry, 

 their wrinkles entirely disappear, and the 

 little animal assumes all its splendour. The 

 transmutation being thus perfectly finished, 

 the butterfly discharges three or four drops of 

 a blood-coloured liquid, which are the last re- 

 mains of its superfluous moisture. 1 Those 

 aurelias which are enclosed within a cone, find 

 that exit more difficult, as they have still an- 

 other prison to break through : this, however, 

 they perform in a short time ; for the butter, 

 fly, freed from its aurelia skin, butts with its 

 head violently against the walls of its artificial 

 prison ; and probably with its eyes, that are 

 rough and like a file, it rubs the internal sur- 

 face away ; till it is at last seen bursting its 

 way into open light ; and, in less than a quar- 

 ter of an hour, the animal acquires its full per- 

 fection. 



Thus, to use the words of Swammerdam, we 

 see a little insignificant creature distinguished, 

 in its last birth, with qualifications and orna- 

 ments, which man, during his stay upon earth, 

 can never even hope to acquire. The butter- 

 fly , to enjoy life, needs no other food but the dews 

 of heaven, and the honeyed juices which are 

 distilled from every flower. The pageantry 

 of princes cannot equal the ornaments with 

 which it. is invested ; nor the rich colouring 

 that embellishes its wings. The skies are 

 the butterfly's proper habitation, and the air 

 is its element : whilst man comes into the 

 world naked, and often roves about without 

 habitation or shelter ; exposed on one hand to 

 the heat of the sun, and on the other to the 

 damps and exhalations of the earth ; both 

 alike enemies of his happiness and existence. 



1 These red drops, which several of the butterfly tribe 

 discharge immediately upon their transformation, have 

 been recorded by ancient writers as showers of blood, 

 portending some convulsion of nature, or national cala- 

 mity. In the year 1608, the inhabitants of the town of 

 Aix were in the utmost consternation, in consequence of 

 a discharge of this kind, which fell in the suburbs, and 

 for some miles round. But the philosopher Pieresc soon 

 quieted their alarms, by showing them that the whole of 

 this wonder originated in a flight of harmless butterflies, 

 that had just taken wing from their chrysalis state. 



A strong proof that, while this little animal is 

 raised to its greatest height, we are as yet in 

 this world only candidates for perfection! 



CHAP. III. 



OF BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 



IT has been already shown, that all butter- 

 flies are bred from caterpillars ; and we have 



2 Butterflies, Hawk- moths, and Moths belong to the 

 order Lepidoptera, so called from the scales on their 

 wings. Their generic names are Papilio, Sphinx, and 

 Phalcena : recent writers have divided them according 

 to the seasons of their flight, into Diurnal, Crepuscular, 

 and Nocturnal. "The term Butterfly," says Mr Duncan, 

 in the Naturalist's Library, " is a literal translation of 

 the Saxon word Buttor-fleoze, and is supposed to be ap- 

 plied because the insects first become prevalent in the 

 beginning of the season for butter. They are distinguished 

 from the other scaly-winged kinds, by possessing antenna; 

 with a knob or club at the summit, * and holding their 

 wings, when in a state of repose, erect or very slightly 

 inclined. They are the most generally and familiarly 

 known of our insect tribes, and, by their conspicuous ap- 

 pearance, seldom fail to attract the notice even of those 

 whose perceptions are least alive to the beauty of natural 

 objects. The graceful curves of their outline their gay 

 and fitful flight the splendour of their colouring and 

 decorations, which present every variety of tint found in 

 the different kingdoms of nature, distributed in markings 

 and delineations of the most beautiful and diversified 

 character, seem to confer on them a kind of superiority 

 over other insects. Some naturalists have accordingly 

 considered them as entitled to stand at the head of the 

 insect class: and if, as Mr Kirby remarks, beauty, and 

 grace, and gaiety, and splendour of colours were the 

 great requisite, and the law enjoined Detur pulchriori 

 they are doubtless deserving oi this preference. Their 

 wings are augmented to a size that seems quite dispro- 

 portioned to that of the body, as if nature had wished to 

 enlarge the surface on which she was to employ her 

 pencil, that it might admit of more varied and profuse 

 decoration. Even the under face of the wings, contrary 

 to what is observed in other flying animals, is usually as 

 much adorned as the surface, and often in an entirely 

 different manner. Each wing, therefore, presents what 

 may be called two different pictures. No kind of orna- 

 ment found among other insects is omitted in this fa- 

 voured tribe : and so many new modes of embellish- 

 ment are employed, that nature seems to have made 

 them the objects of her peculiar care, and designed 

 them, as has been remarked by the learned and pious 

 Ray, for the adornment of the universe, and to form 

 delightful objects for the contemplation of man, bearing 

 conspicuous marks of the hand of a divine Artist. 



"The habits of these insects are well fitted to confirm 

 the preference we assign to their beauty. Unlike many 

 others of this class, which delight to riot among substances 

 most offensive to our senses, or which destroy the pro- 

 perty and lives of their less powerful companions, butter- 

 flies derive their sustenance from the nectareous juices 

 and secretions of fruits and flowers. Instead of grovel- 

 ling on the ' dungy earth,' they are generally seen either 

 sporting in the air, or resting on the disk of some ex- 



* Certain foreign genera, however, such as Morpho and 

 Urania, form an exception to this rule, as they have anteunrp 

 either of equal thickness throughout, or tapering slightly to the 

 summit. 



