782 



THE NATURE BOOK 



butterfly that so gaily flashed its colours 

 in the sunlight. However, almost as soon 

 as this thought occurs to us, our butter- 

 fly begins to grow in beauty before our 

 eyes. Its clumpy wings lengthen out and 

 begin to re\'eal their charming colours ; 

 indeed, the whole process is a delightful 

 transformation scene in miniature. Yet 

 there is no doubt about its reality ; there 

 the butterfly hangs on the stem of the 

 plant — a lovely insect that a few moments 

 before was apparently a dry and lifeless 

 object. 



TWO LARV^ BECAME CHRYSALmES AT 

 ALMOST THE SAME TIME BENEATH 

 THE CLEANED VEIN OF A THISTLE 

 LEAF. 



There, then, the butterfly hung clinging 

 by its legs, its wings dangling in space, 

 for the}'^ were limp and wet and quite 

 unfit for flight. At the end of an hour, 

 however, things had changed. It was 

 then obvious that the wings were no 

 longer wet and flimsy, for they had dried 

 rigid and bore quite a trim and neat 

 appearance (No. 5), and they were also 

 under muscular control. This latter fact 

 soon became apparent. It was nearly 

 mid-day, and the bright sunshine was 

 particularly attractive to this creature 

 of the sunlight whose birth we had wit- 

 nessed. Indeed, its frail form was so 

 crammed with the joyousness of life that 

 it could not afford to waste a moment of 

 the golden time. Instantly the wings 



were under control the butterfly became 

 impatient. Its feelers quivered, its legs 

 moved rapidly to and fro, and finally its 

 wings began to flutter ; and at the same 

 time the butterfly seemed to realise that 

 it possessed a new and wonderful power. 

 Restraint then was out of the question ; 

 away it travelled up the stem (p. 784) 

 to the topmost point, and there it took 

 its first outlook upon the new world of 

 space it had to conquer. The erstwhile 

 caterpillar that filled up every moment 

 of its existence in searching for and 

 de\'ouring green leaves, allowing intervals 

 for resting, was as dead and forgotten as 

 if it had never been. Here was a creature 

 whose food consisted of the sweet nectar 

 of the flowers, and who would never eat 

 a green leaf while it lived, for it lost its 

 mandibles when it threw off its last cater- 

 pillar skin, and now it had only a long, 

 coiled sucking proboscis which it unrolled, 

 to search the depths of the flowers. Its 

 outlook on life evidently gave it much 

 satisfaction, for it suddenly opened wide 

 its wings and revealed the lovely colours 

 of their upper surface (p. 784). Where 

 and how it got those marvellous organs 

 with all their wondrous hues was all a 

 mystery. Evidently green leaves were the 

 working basis for their production, yet 

 this knowledge does nothing towards 

 explaining the m3'stery. 



The opening of the wings was but a 

 preliminary movement. After the butter- 

 fly had sunned itself for a few minutes, 

 it quietly pushed off from the stem into 

 space. It did not at first fly very far, 

 but after a short rest it again rose on its 

 wings, and then that same bold flight that 

 characterised the parent butterfly when it 

 careered over its selected plot near the 

 sea-coast was reproduced almost exactly. 



Yes, our buttei"fly, at least, was safely 

 launched, but what would happen after- 

 wards ? Probably several days would be 

 occupied in the sim]:)le pleasures of butter- 

 fly life, such as frolics in the sunlight 

 with its brothers and sisters that aj)[)ear 

 about the same time, and imbibing all 

 the sweet nectars from the various flowers. 

 Or there may be love-making, for any da}^ 

 suitable winds ma}' bring a few or a multi- 

 tude of its species to its near neighbour- 

 hood, and amongst such visitors may, of 

 course, come its mate. As we have seen, 



