Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-10-16
A ButMrfly's Life.

small red and black butterfly poiSes stat
field thistle. With its long sucker IL prob
1ndustrtously 1oret after foret OF The crowded
head, and extracts from each its wee drop OF
the dull outer sides Of its four wings are alone
displayed, so that it does not form conspicuous
marx Tor passing birds; but when 1t has drunk
up the last drop OF honey from the thistle
flower, and fits jOyously away to seek an
other purple mass OF the same sort, 1t Will open
its red spotted vans in the sunlight, and will
then show Itself Off as one among the prettieSt
OF our native Insects Each thistle head con.
sists OF some 200 separate little bell-shaped
blossoms. crowded together for the sake of
blossoms of the lilac or the syringa are crowded
into larger though less dense clusters, and, as
each separate foret has nectary or Its own,
the bee or butterfly who alghtS upon the CON-
pound f1oWer-group can busy himself for mo-
ment or two In getting at the various drops OF
honey without the necessity for any further
change of position than that OF revolving upon
its own axis Hence these composite flowers are
great faVorites with all insects whose suckers
are long enough to reach the bottom OF their
slender tubes
The butterfly view of life is doubtless on the
whole cheerful one. Yet his existence must
be something so nearly mechanical that we
probably oyerrate the amount OF enjoyment
which he derives from fitting about SO airily
among the flowers and passing bis days In the
gnproken amusement of sucking liquid honey.
SubJectIvely viewed, the butterfly Is not high
order OF insect; his nervous system does not
show that provision for comparatively sponta.
neous thought and acton which we find In the
more intelligent orders, like the flies, bees, ants
and Wasps. His nerves are all FILTERED away
In little separate ganglia distributed among
the various segments Of his body, instead OF
or brain, whose business it is to correlate and
coordinate complex external Impressions.
This shows that the butterf1y's movements
upon immediate external stimulants; he has
not even that small capacity for elaboration
and spontaneous initiative which belongs to
h tC rn1 fnynf In haA II DO IL
piece Of half conscious mechanism, answering
Immediately TO impulses from without just as
the thermometer answers to variations OF
temperature, and as the Geographic indicator
answers to each making and breaking Of the
electric current.
In early life the future butterfly energies from
to move, and the caterpillar moves forward by
their motion. The caterpillar walks. 1t knows
not why, but simply because 1t has to walk.
When it reaches f1t place for feeding which
differs according to the nature of the PARTICULAR
larya, 1t feeds automatically. After con-
siderable span OF life spent In feeding and
walking about In search OF more food, the cat
erplllar one day found itself compelled by
an inner monitor to alter its habits. Why it
knew not; but just as a tired child sinks into
sleep, the gorged and fulfilled caterpillar sank
peacefully into dormant state. Then It's
tissues melted one by one into kind Of organic
pap and its outer skin hardened into chry5alis.
Within that solid case new limbs and organs
began to grow by hereditary impulses At
length one day the chrysOliS burst der,
and the insect energies to view, a full-nedgei
and beautiful butterfly.
For minute or two it stands and waits till
the air 1t breathes has filled out its wings, and
till the warmth and sunlight have given it
strength. For the wings are by origin part
OF the breathing apparatus, and they require
to be plummed by the air before the insect can
take TO fight. Then, as 1t grows more accus-
toned to its new life, the hereditary impulse
causes 1t to spread Its vans abroad and 1t flies.
Soon flower catches its eye, and the bright
| mass of color attracts it irresist1bly, as the
candle light attracts the eye OF child few
weeks old. 1t sets off toward the patch of red
or yellow, probably not knowing beforehand
that this Is the visible symbol or food for 1t,
but merely guided by the blind habit oftts race
constitution OF its body. Thus the moths,
W hich fly by night and visit only white flowers
| hose corollas still shine GU. In the twilight
are so 1rreSiStbly led on by the external
| stimulus Of light from candle falling upon
| their eyes that they cannot choose but move
though singed and blinded twice or three times
| by the fame, must still wheel and eddy into 1t,
till at last they perish in the scorching blaze.
| Their instincts. or, to put 1t more clearly,
| their simple nervous mechanism, though
| admirably adapted to their natural circum-
artificial objects as wax (, candles; TT, the
| matically by the color Of his proper flowers,
| and settling upon them sucks up their honey
instlnct1vely. But feeding Is not now his only
| object in life; he has to find and pair with
| Of his winged existence. Here again his simple
| nervous system stands him In good stead. The
picture of his kind Is, as 1t were, imprinted on
| his little brain, and he knows his own mates
| the moment he sees them, just as intuitiveiy as
| he knows the flowers upon which ne must Ieeo.