236 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
portion of them remains as it was, except that 
mysterious life-power which brings to them from past 
generations the experience to guide them in their 
development and their work. Yet so true is this 
experience, so well has the lesson been learnt by the 
countless ancestors which have gone before, that 
among the thousands of different kinds of grub, 
and maggot, and caterpillar, each follows its own 
peculiar road as its forefathers have done before it, 
and wrapping itself in its own special form of covering, 
goes through its curious change, and comes out as 
fly, butterfly, moth, or beetle, with those weapons 
and ornaments which it needs for the rest of its 
existence. 
Of all the marvels of life, surely this is one of the 
most marvellous, and why or how each one puts on its 
peculiar dress we can scarcely ever hope to know. But 
we may gain some slight idea of the general process 
by which a creeping worm is changed into a winged 
insect ; and to do this let us sketch out the life of 
the common Tortoise-shell butterfly which Mr New- 
port watched through all its changes nearly fifty 
years ago. 
It is under the fresh green shoots of the common 
nettle that the tortoise-shell butterfly- mother lays 
her cluster of eggs in the early summer, after she has 
crept out of the crack in the wall or paling, where 
she had remained hidden for her long winter sleep. 
Coming out with worn wings and faded colours ; she 
enjoys a short flight in the sunshine with others of 
her kind, and then leaves her eggs where the young 
will find food, and goes her way to die. And in a 
week or two, when these eggs are hatched, there creep 
