250 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
are ready to come out when they have developed 
into those little grey moths we know but too well. 
And here we must leave the butterflies and moths, 
without touching upon those moth-caterpillars which 
live in the water, or those which steal the honey from 
the bees, or the tiny butterfly-caterpillars which live in 
the clover and grass, and whose eggs we tread upon 
as we walk. Each little butterfly or moth which we 
watch gamboling in the sunshine, or disturb from its 
sleep in the hedges or on the moss-covered walls, has 
its own habits and history, its favourite plant on which 
it feeds and to which its caterpillar feet are often spe- 
cially adapted, its time for flying and for resting, its 
special hiding-places for its pupa, and its own lovely 
markings on the wings, which when open attract its 
mates, and when closed often shelter it by making it 
look like the plants upon which it alights ; while many 
moths which fly at night have even a peculiar scent 
by which they find each other in the dark. And one 
and all have their object in life — the male butterflies 
to find a mate, and the mothers to find the plant on 
which they themselves fed as caterpillars, there to lay 
their eggs. Moreover, they are unconsciously doing 
useful work, for as they pass from flower to flower 
sipping the honey, they carry the pollen -dust on 
their bodies and fertilise the lovely blossoms which 
enliven our fields and hedges, and in so doing help 
to make the seeds which grow up into fresh plants 
for those which come after them. 
But as these delicate children of Life flutter 
through the world, innumerable dangers meet them 
on their way — as caterpillars, pupae, and butterflies, 
