LIFE-HISTORIES OF BUTTERFLIES 241 



complex and recent of plants. The full-grown animals 

 are familiar to us, their caterpillars and chrysalids are 

 common objects. Such intercourse argues a successful 

 and complex career. Butterflies are nicely adapted for 

 their sunny life. They are emancipated from touch 

 with the soil, the old coarse diet, and the primitive 

 conditions of life. Their structure is one of the most 

 complex organisation, and is sustained by a delicate 

 light nutritious drink. Their colours and form bear 

 witness to a complexity of life far removed from that 

 of the insects we have so far reviewed. 



If the butterfly and hawk-moth are specialised 

 in structure and habits, their larval stage has in its 

 way adopted a far more complex life than is led by 

 the young of primitive insects. They feed no 

 longer on the fungi and mould-haunted provender, 

 the tough wood or fibre that nourished their cryptic 

 and simpler forerunners, but devour the juicy leaf of 

 the more recently evolved herbs and vegetables. 

 They have acquired decoration of form and colour, 

 activity of movement, measures of protection, and a 

 nicety of adjustment between their needs and the 

 good or evil chances of their surroundings that finds 

 expression in their choice of food plant, powers of 

 hibernation, and capacity for social life. 



The transition from this caterpillar life organised 

 for rapid growth to the state of flight has itself become 

 subjected to profounder changes than those that 

 affect the pups of the caddis or the beetle. The 

 chrysalis is no longer always buried in the earth, but 



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