PEARL SKIPPERS 



one kind of skipper, argus or blue. That these forms 

 of life began separately and independently of each 

 other is unthinkable. 



No ; the pearl skipper and the large skipper were 

 evolved and distinguished by gradual creation. But 

 what exactly gave the one his pearls and denied him 

 white rings on the antennae or horns ; what gave the 

 other his white rings but denied him the pearls ? Here 

 is a riddle as unguessed as that of the making of An- 

 tares and Arcturus, the great ruby and amber stars of 

 these August evenings. Half the secrets of life and 

 evolution lie in epitome in this dot of a butterfly. 

 Common sense tells us the skippers evolved through a 

 common ancestor. But darkness follows on this glim- 

 mer of light. Why and how pearls for the pearl skip- 

 per ? Nothing in food, habit of life, or haunt gives 

 the clue. Take the pearl skipper to pieces, put 

 him under the most powerful microscope, and I 

 doubt whether his physiology will help you forward 

 in the least. Here theory comes in with the general 

 principle by which pearl skipper took one branch 

 road, larger skipper another, on the map of life. But, 

 unfortunately, it cannot offer a tittle of evidence 

 as to this particular case of pearls and rings ; and it 

 leaves one unsatisfied. The pearl skipper's path of 

 evolution and the purpose served by his travelling 

 this path are darkly hid away. 



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