INSECTS. 
159 
low and orange and black, — busy among the lowly nettles, 
attentive to the grand occupation that forms “ The Whole 
Duty of Butterflies,” — the providing for the continuance 
of the race, by depositing hero an egg and there an egg, 
on the stems or beneath the leaves of those grim and for- 
midable weeds. But even if it is one of much humbler 
pretensions, the White ( Pontia brassicai) of our kitchen- 
garden, still it is a Butterfly, and we look upon it with a 
hearty welcome, forgiving, and for the moment forgetting, 
all the robbery it committed upon our cabbage before it 
was born. 
And these frail creatures are worthy of our kindly re- 
gard, not only for their association (true children of the 
sun, as they are) with all that is most lovely in scenery, 
and most delightful in season, but because of their own 
personal claims to our admiration. If we capture that 
Red Admiral or Peacock that is so intent upon the nettles, 
what a glorious creature should we think we had obtained 
if we had never seen anything like it before ! How light 
and papery, yet how strong and effective, are these broad 
wings ! with what an elegant pencil has this pattern of 
beautiful colours been traced ! But stay ! let us look 
closer at this painting, aiding our sight with a pocket- 
lens. It is a most exquisite mosaic, fashioned out of 
innumerable coloured pieces, of regular shape and ar- 
rangement. 
If we look at our fingers’ ends with which we have 
touched, though ever so lightly, these pencilled surfaces, 
we see that some of the colouring is transferred to them ; 
and if we have pressed the wing, as in seizing it for the 
purpose of capture, we find that the finger presents the 
