HIGH LIFE, 98 



irrepressible creatures, the fashionable and frivolous 

 element in the insect world, gad about from flower to 

 flower over great distances at once, and think much more 

 of sunning themselves and of attracting their fellows than 

 of attention to business. And the reason is obvious, if 

 one considers for a moment the difference in the 

 political and domestic economy of the two opposed 

 groups. For the honey-bees are neuters, sexless pur- 

 veyors of the hive, with no interest on earth save the 

 storing of honey for the common benefit of the plialanstery 

 to which they belong. But the butterflies are full-fledged 

 males and females, on the hunt through the world for 

 suitable partners : they think far less of feeding than of 

 displaying their charms : a little honey to support them 

 during their flight is all they need : — ' For the bee, a long 

 round of ceaseless toil ; for me,' says the gay butterfly, * a 

 short life and a merry one.' Mr. Harold Skimpole 

 needed only ' music, sunshine, a few grapes.' The 

 butterflies are of his kind. The high mountain zone is 

 for them a true ball-room : the flowers are light refresh- 

 ments laid out in the vestibule. Their real business in 

 life is not to gorge and lay by, but to coquette and display 

 themselves and find fitting partners. 



So while the bees with their honey-bags, like the 

 financier with his money-bags, are storing up profit for 

 the composite community, the butterfly, on the contrary, 

 lavs himself out for an agreeable flutter, and sips nectar 

 ^Yhere he will, over large areas of country. He flies 

 rather high, flaunting his wings in the sun, because he 

 wants to show himself off in all his airy beauty : and 

 when he spies a bed of bright flowers afar off on the 



