HISTORY OF THE BUTTERFLY. 



IPWE^E will now trace the history of the butterfly, from 



Kll!^ ^ e t * me ^ was a ^ n y e %%' not so ***§ as t ^ ie 



head of a good-sized pin, glued by the mother 

 insect to that particular kind of leaf on which the 

 caterpillar, that it will shortly turn to, feeds. Now, here 

 is a wonder at once ; the Butterfly, recollect, does not feed 

 upon leaves, but the sweet juices extracted from flowers 

 and those by no means flowers of the plant from which 

 it derives nourishment while in the caterpillar or larva 

 state, as it is called. How then should it know the 

 particular description of food suitable for its crawling 

 progeny, in every respect so unlike itself? We can 

 only say that God teaches it. Instinct is the name 

 generally given to the mysterious knowledge which 

 seems to direct all the members of the brute creation. 

 Man, you know, has Reason for his guidance, animals 

 have not ; still they are guided, and often more surely 

 to the desired end, than man with all his boasted rea- 

 son The poet Pope has said 



" Reason raise o'er Instinct as you can, 

 In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man." 



