CHAPTER VIII 

 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



I HAVE kept what is, in my opinion, the 

 best wine until the last. The plants 

 and animals, which have been discussed 

 in the preceding chapters, have each a 

 measure of charm for the student of Nature ; 

 but, as a subject of study, none of them can 

 equal those graceful and delicate insects, 

 which the present Poet Laureate calls ' the 

 winged flowers of the unsown air.' There is 

 an element of the ethereal in butterflies, 

 which has from the earliest times influenced 

 poetic minds. If we except the humming- 

 birds, I do not think such brilliance and 

 beauty of colour, elegance and refinement of 

 form, and lightness and grace of movement 

 are combined in equal degree in any other 

 portion of the animal kingdom. 



There have been times when these 



