PREHISTORIC BOTANISTS. l ^ 



It might be imagined that allied plants possessed some essen- 

 tial quality in common by which the insect might associate them, 

 but such an hypothesis is needless, as the butterfly does not taste 

 the plants upon which its eggs are laid, and rarely visits them 

 even when in blossom, its roving days being spent among hon- 

 eyed flowers quite indiscriminately. 



While the foregoing facts are largely the result of personal 

 observation, research only further emphasizes the seeming law 

 involved. Whether in the tropics or the arctic regions, from 

 Labrador to Patagonia, the butterflies have always pursued this 

 wise prerogative, and doubtless in many regions yet unexplored 

 by man have even now anticipated the botanists of the future. 



In a preferment of the arctic or glacial environment of my 

 subject I have shown unconscious allegiance to the mother-earth 

 my feet have trod our own blossoming moraines. 



Perhaps, also, that inspiriting winter butterfly is somewhat 

 responsible for my point of view and the resultant flight of fancy; 

 but if any doubts as to the consequent deductions had been pos- 

 sible with me, they are now forever set at rest; for here, in the 

 middle of January, upon the last day of the completion of my 

 writing, I am visited with a sudden and strange vision of that 

 same inspiring butterfly. I know not whether it is the same free 

 spirit which enraptured my boyhood, or the buoyant sylph which 

 hovered above those Alpen snows, but it lent its presence once 

 more to me to-day, much to the amazement of several witnesses. 

 As I sat in the reference-room of our city library, even as I 

 consulted the authorities upon its own ubiquitous existence, it 

 perched upon the rail close by, and applauded my efforts with its 

 palpitating wings. 



of the season are sometimes so widely dissimilar that, according to Scudder, they 

 have been universally classified as distinct species, until their common parentage 

 was proved. Mr. Edwards gives three distinct forms of the Zebra swallow-tail 

 appearing in successive broods in spring, summer, and autumn. It is not diffi- 

 cult to imagine accidental conditions of weather, and resultant effects in habits, 

 or natural selection, through which one of these particular types might be perpetu- 

 ated as the permanent fixed form. 



