8 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Brimstone the buckthorn. Hardly ever, by 

 any chance, is the egg of one species l;ua on 

 the food-plant of another. There are, how- 

 ever, occasional exceptions ; and these very 

 exceptions display an amount of botanical 

 knowledge which, of course, we must consider 

 as instinctive or intuitive knowledge, pos- 

 sessed by these females, that cannot fail to 

 excite our admiration ; it is that when the 

 usual food-plant is not at hand, and the egg 

 must be extruded, the most nearly allied 

 species is selected and made to serve as a sub- 

 stitute : for instance, when the common specie? 

 of buckthorn (lihamnus catharticus) cannot 

 be found, the rarer $i)ecies(Rhamnu8franguhi) 

 is made to supply its place. When a female 

 butterfly is about to lay her eggs, her conduct 

 is totally different from that ordinarily to be 

 observed : she assumes a grave, important, and 

 business-like demeanour, with which the prac- 

 tical observer soon becomes familiar; she 

 exhibits none of that volatility and careless- 

 ness which characterises a butterfly when 

 engaged in the lighter labours of life, such as 

 making love or sipping honey. Her eggs are 

 generally covered with liquid glue at the 

 moment they are laid, and this glue fastens 

 them to whatever substances the parent but- 

 terfly pleases, generally the surface of a leaf, 

 but sometimes to a twig or the bark of a tree. 

 This latter plan is always adopted by the 

 English species of Hair-streaks. 



There is, however, one striking exception to 

 this rule, and others of course may be ex 

 pected. The Marbled White, as Mr. Moii 

 creaff informs me, drops her eggs at random 

 among the herbage, being perfectly well 

 assured that th? young caterpillar when 

 hatched will find out, and will crawl up, some 

 blade of grass suitable for him to feed on. 



The eggs of butterflies differ very remark- 

 ably both in size and shape : in somethe surface 

 is most beautifully ornamented as with carved 

 work, but a thousand times more delicate and 

 finer than any carving that human hands 

 could execute; some are exquisitely fluted ; 

 others are ribbed, the ribs being from ten to 

 thirty in number, and these are connected by 

 ft great number of excessively minute trans- 



verse raised lines ; some ai'e entirely covered 

 with a net-work of rais >d Hues ; others have 

 rows of minute warts, forty or fifty in num- 

 ber, all of which converge to a point at the 

 top of the egg; others are perfectly smooth 

 and without markings of any kind ; some few 

 of them have a lid at the top, which the 

 young caterpillar gently lifts off when he 

 makes his first appearance in the world. In- 

 deed, the variety of surface in eggs is almost 

 infinite, and so is the shape ; some being 

 round, others oblong, and others like cham- 

 pagne bottles, standing upright. 



One of the most curious and striking facts is 

 the extreme difference in the eggs of species, 

 which, in the perfect state, closely resemble 

 each other ; thus the egg of the Large Tor- 

 toiseshell is pear-shaped and smooth, while 

 that of the Small Tortoiseshell is oblong, with 

 eight very conspicuous ribs. The characters 

 of each egg are, however, so constant in each 

 species of butterfly, that any one who has paid 

 attention to the subject can immediately say 

 to what butterfly any particular egg belongs. 

 Nevertheless, a naturalist must not delude 

 himself into a belief that he can classify 

 butterflies by the shape or structure of their 



This remarkable diversity in the eggs of 

 butterflies, being so opposed to the samene.-s of 

 shape and surface in the eggs of birds, has not 

 only excited the admiration, but induced the 

 speculation, of philosophers in all ages. Thus 

 Dr. Paley had suggested, that it " may in 

 many instances be referred to that will to 

 alter forms, and so to glorify His wisdom and 

 power, which seem so often to have guided 

 the Great Author of Nat lire" a position that 

 peems to me untenable, because it savours of 

 seeking that glory which His wonderful 

 works spontaneously afford ; and thus to attri- 

 bute to a Creator feelings that would scarcely 

 dignify a creature. "We cannot be too cautious 

 in assigning human motives to the Most High. 

 Man may, perhaps, build marvellous struc- 

 tures, carve exquisite figures, perform feats 

 of intellectual or manual dexterity for his own 

 honour and glory, and without any ulterior 

 beneficial object, but he must not a 



