THE LIFE HISTORY. 
11 
a butterfly full of life and beauty shall emerge. Beneath this hard 
and usually dull-colored exterior, what wonderful changes are tak¬ 
ing place ! Simple eyes give place to compound eyes; biting jaws 
change to a sucking tube, with its palpi; antennae spring from its 
head, wings from the sides of its body, and a delicate scale armor 
covers the whole. What tale from “ The Arabian Nights ” can equal 
marvels in the life history of a common butterfly ? At length after 
weeks, in some cases months, of inactivity, through the shell of the 
chrysalis may be dimly seen the colors of the developing insect. A 
slight split opens in the back of the shelly case, and as this widens 
and opens the butterfly slowly crawls out, and, after finding a suit¬ 
able place, hangs almost motionless. The creature is still very 
unlike the butterfly with which we are so familiar. Its body is soft 
and weak; its wings are no larger than one’s finger-nail, and it 
looks wet and bedraggled. But watch it. Its wings begin to swell 
with the fluid which is pumped into them from its body. It appears 
to grow as we look, and in half an hour it is a glorious creature, a 
living jewel. Oh, how perfect and beautiful it is — not a mar on its 
velvety wings ! We rarely see one in a wild state so fresh and flaw¬ 
less. It is now at its best. It has reached this grand climax after 
weeks of preparation, and we can but admire its wondrous beauty. 
With the emerging and developing of the perfect insect, its growth 
ceases, for a little butterfly never grows to be a big one. A part 
injured, a wing torn, is never mended; loosened scales are never 
replaced; and its life from now on sees it less bright and beautiful 
day after day. After depositing its eggs for the next generation it 
soon becomes a tattered, helpless creature, and falls an easy prey to 
one of its many enemies. 
