BLUE ARGUS BUTTERFLY. 195 



many of them for their stations would be immediately 

 manifest to us. The butterfly, light, airy, joyous, re- 

 plete with life, sports in the sunshine, wantons on the 

 flower, and trips from bloom to bloom, gay as the bril- 

 liant morn, and cheerful as the splendor of heaven : 

 heat and light appear to be the very principle of his 

 being ; in a cloudy or a chilly atmosphere his energies 

 become suspended, and, closing his wings, reposes like 

 a sickly thing upon some drooping flower : but let the 

 cloud disperse, the sun break out, he springs again to 

 active life ; associating with the birds of day, and deni- 

 zen of the same scenes, he only seems of a less ele- 

 vated order. But the moth, though possessing at times 

 sufficient activity for self-preservation, is less buoyant, 

 less sprightly on the wing, avoids the heat and light, 

 the higher ranges of the air, and seeks his mate or his 

 food in the shelter of the hedge or the ditch, amidst 

 foliage and shade, where we may see him hovering se- 

 dately around some flower, or passing on his way with 

 quiet steady flight, accordant with the silence and twi- 

 light of the hour : companion of the owl and the bat, 

 his grave actions are quite unsuitable to the gaiety, the 

 flutter of a summer's sun ; the former is emblematic of 

 levity and display, the latter of retirement and shade. 

 And thus each, though but slightly seen, is in admirable 

 harmony with the season in which it moves, manifesting 

 the peculiar fitness of things to their several stations in 

 this vast world of wisdom ; an observation obvious to 

 all, and a truth everywhere admitted, yet, as a Christian 

 moralizer I could not pass by unheeded any evidence 

 of foresight and of power. 



Basking in the glare of an August or a July sun, in 

 our pastures we see the little elegant blue argus butter- 

 fly (papilio argus), noted and admired by all, now 

 warmed into active life. A few of our lepidopterous 

 creatures, especially the common white butterflies of 

 our gardens, are contentious animals, and drive away 

 a rival from their haunts. We see them progressively 

 ascending into the air, in ardent unheeding contest; 

 and thus they are observed, captured, and consumed in 

 a moment by some watchful bird : but we have few 



