158 AN INSECT CRIPPLE. 



danger is past. The rough, brown elm bark is a 

 favourite refuge under these circumstances ; and it 

 takes a sharp eye to discover the butterfly when 

 settled. 



Sometimes the creature is not quite so magnificent, 

 and even appears shorn of its fair proportions. I 

 have now such a specimen before me, which I found 

 on a sandy bank, unable to fly. 



My attention was drawn to it by observing a 

 curious fluttering movement of the grasses that 

 covered the bank ; and on going up to the spot to 

 see what was the cause, I discovered an Atalanta 

 butterfly that had apparently lost both wings of the 

 left side, and was endeavouring to fly with the re- 

 maining pair. Of course it could only make short 

 leaps into the air, turn over, and again fall to the 

 ground. Wishing to put it out of pain, I killed it, 

 and on examination found that it had never been 

 endowed with wings on its left side, and that those 

 organs had still remained in the undeveloped state 

 in which they had lain under the chrysalis case. 

 Even the right pair had not attained their full de- 

 velopment ; but in every other respect the insect was 

 perfect. 



I suppose that the caterpillar must have selected 

 too dry a spot for its habitation when it became a 

 pupa ; and that in consequence the pupa shell was 

 so dry and hard that the butterfly could not make its 

 escape in proper time. I have often seen similar 



