WHAT BUTTERFLIES ARE GOOD FOR. 33 



moth, having neither teeth nor even any mouth capable 

 of opening, but only a weak hollow tongue to suck 

 honey through, was utterly incapable of biting or in- 

 flicting any wound whatever. But, as is usual in such 

 cases, my entomological theory went for nothing in face 

 of the gentleman's knock-down battery of facts ocular 

 iacts; he had seen the moth, and he had teen the wound: 

 surely, there was proof enough for me, or any one else. 

 So, I suppose, he steadfastly believes to this day, that 

 the moth was a truculent, bloodthirsty monster; whilst 

 I still presume to believe, that if any wound was caused 

 at the moment in question, it was by the nails of the 

 lady attacked, or her friends, in clutching frantically at 

 the terrific intruder ; who, poor fellow, might have been 

 pardoned for mistaking the fair neck for one of his 

 favourite flowers (a lily, perhaps), while the utmost 

 harm he contemplated was to pilfer a sip of nectar from 

 the lips he doubtless took for rosebuds. 



Utilitarians may, perhaps, inquire the uses of butter- 

 flies what they do, make, or can be sold for ; and I 

 must confess that my little favourites neither make 

 anything to wear, like the silkworm, nor anything to 

 eat, like the honey-bee, nor are their bodies saleable by 

 the ton, like the cochineal insects, and that, commer- 

 cially speaking, they are just worth nothing at all, 

 excepting the few paltry pence or shillings that the 

 dealer gets for their little dried bodies occasionally ; so 

 they are of 110 more use than poetry, painting, and 

 music than flowers, rainbows, and all such unbusiness- 



