92 
A MARVEL OF MATERNAL PROVISION. 
it; not neglected, and without succour, but furnished with its first 
aliment—an aliment light and fitted for its 
feebleness, which it can find on its waking 
up into life. This done, she closes the door, 
seals it, and voluntarily excludes and inter¬ 
dicts herself from returning thither. Thence¬ 
forth she must cede her rights to the univer¬ 
sal mother, who shall replace her—Nature. 
That in such a cradle the child should live 
commodiously,—that from its own body it 
should draw out a silky covering to line its 
plastic prison,—that finally, when sufficiently 
strong,it should issue forth under the influence 
of the heat,—this is self-explanatory, and we 
admire without being astonished. But what 
really excites our wonder is, that the mother, 
—a butterfly, or perhaps a beetle,—after the 
numerous changes through which she has 
passed, after her numerous sloughings, transi¬ 
tory slumbers, and metamorphoses, should 
remember, for her offspring’s behoof, the place 
or plant where formerly she herself was 
nourished, and grew, and took her point of 
departure ! It is a marvel which confounds 
the mind. Those creatures apparently the 
most heedless — the ffy, or light-headed 
butterfly—at the moment when approaching 
death brightens them with the radiance of 
love, collect, as it were, their thoughts, and 
seem to revive their recollections. Then, 
without lapse or error, they flee away; and 
lo! the plant which was their own early 
residence, their birthplace, and their cradle, 
shall again become their home, and protect their offspring ! 
All at once they show themselves prudent, foreseeing, and skilful. 
