ILLUSTRATIVE OF NATURAL SELECTION.’ 1837 
proportion of the Satyride and many of the Dana- 
ide are shade-loving butterflies. This. question, of 
what is to be considered the highest type of any 
group of organisms, is one of such general interest to 
naturalists that it will be well to consider it a little 
further, by a comparison of the Lepidoptera with some 
groups of the higher animals. 
Mr. Trimen’s argument, that the lepidopterous type, 
like that of birds, being pre-eminently aérial, “ there- 
fore a diminution of the ambulatory organs, instead 
of being a sign of inferiority, may very possibly in- 
dicate a higher, because a more thoroughly aérial 
form,” is certainly unsound, for it would imply that: 
the most aérial of birds (the swift and the frigate- 
birds, for example) are the highest in the scale of 
bird-organization, and the more so on account of their 
feet being very ill adapted for walking. But no or- 
nithologist has ever so classed them, and the claim to 
the highest rank among birds is only disputed be- 
tween three groups, all very far removed from these. 
They are—lIst. The Falcons, on account of their 
general perfection, their rapid flight, their piercing 
vision, their perfect feet armed with retractile claws, 
the beauty of their forms, and the ease and rapidity of 
their motions; 2nd. The Parrots, whose feet, though 
ill-fitted for walking, are perfect as prehensile organs, 
and which possess large brains with great intelligence, 
though but moderate powers of flight; and, 3rd. The 
Thrushes or Crows, as typical of the perching birds, 
on account of the well-balanced development of their 
