THE EVOLUTION OF A MOTHER 347 



butterfly places the eggs of its young on the 

 very leaf which the coming caterpillar likes 

 the most, and on the under side of the leaf, 

 where they will be least exposed — a case which 

 illustrates in a palpable way the essential differ- 

 ence between Motherhood and Maternity. Mater- 

 nity here, in the restricted sense of merely 

 adequate physical care, is carried to its utmost 

 perfection. Everything that can be done for the 

 ^^'g is done. Motherhood, on the other hand, is 

 non-existent, is even an anatomical impossibility. 

 If a butterfly could live till its ^g'g was hatched 

 — which does not happen — it would see no butter- 

 fly come out of the ^%%y no airy likeness of itself, 

 but an earth-bound caterpillar. If it recognized 

 this creature as its child, it could never play the 

 Mother to it. The anatomical form is so different 

 that were it starving it could not feed it, were 

 it threatened it could not save it, nor is it possible 

 to see any direction in which it could be of the 

 slightest use to it. It is obvious that Nature 

 never intended to make a Mother here ; that all 

 that she desired as yet was to perfect the first 

 maternal instinct. And the tragedy of the situa- 

 tion is that on that day when its training to be 

 a true Mother should begin, the butterfly passes 

 out of the world. 



