Inquisitive Jack.CHAPTERXI.About Butterflies.
About Butterflies.
Ourreaders must not suppose that our little hero had no interest in anything but insects. It is true that his mind being once engaged upon this subject, his curiosity increased with his knowledge, and for a time he preferred the study of insects to that of anything else. At one period, as I have told you, he was greatly interested in beetles; then in spiders; and then in bees. Finally he turned his attention to butterflies. You may be tired of my story, but you must hear about this.
One beautiful summer day, he saw a large butterfly seated upon a flower—its wings were splendidly marked with figures of brown, black and gold. They were almost as large as the palm of his hand. As the insect sat upon the flower, he waved them up and down, seeming to fan the blossom upon which it was resting.
Jack’s first idea was to rush upon the butterfly, and seize it. But he had now acquired a habit of investigation. He had lost that instinct which leads little, thoughtless children to snatch at every new and pleasing object. He was no longer a mere child, but a thinking boy. His mind was awake, and the pleasure he derived from its exercise was a very great pleasure.
So Jack, having approached near to the butterfly, paused and examined it carefully. He found that it had four wings, two large and two small ones, and that it had six legs, four only of which seemed to be used.
While Jack was thus pursuing his observations, he gradually drew nearer, until the alarmed insect took to flight, and, with a wavering motion, swept across an adjacent meadow, until it was lost in the distance. As Jack was in the habit of thinking about what he had seen, he mused upon the little butterfly, and then he asked his Aunt Betsey about it. She was ever ready to gratify his curiosity, and so she proceeded to tell him about butterflies, pretty much as follows:
“You must know, my dear Jack,” said she, “that the family of butterflies is very numerous; this consists not only of those which pass under the name of butterfly, and which go abroad in the daylight, but of those which are called moths, and which fly about at night.
“The butterflies have ever been regarded as among the most beautiful objects in nature. They seem almost like flowers or gems, which have become endowed with life, and, taking wings, soar away upon the breeze. Thus the poet Moore speaks of them, as creatures
‘Which flutter round the jasmine stems,Like winged flowers, or flying gems.’
‘Which flutter round the jasmine stems,Like winged flowers, or flying gems.’
‘Which flutter round the jasmine stems,
Like winged flowers, or flying gems.’
“Who, indeed, has not observed these little creatures flying from flower to flower, sipping the nectar from each, and seeming only to think of the present happy moment? And who has not thought how like to happy, heedless, children are these pretty butterflies?
“It is natural that the poets, who were always looking out for beautiful things, should seize upon such a subject as the butterflies, and we therefore find them often alluded to in poetry. Spencer, an old English poet, thus describes one of these insects,—and it is a very good description too:
‘The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,The silken down with which his back is dight,His broad, outstretched horns, his airy thighs,His glorious colors, and his glistening eyes.’
‘The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,The silken down with which his back is dight,His broad, outstretched horns, his airy thighs,His glorious colors, and his glistening eyes.’
‘The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,
The silken down with which his back is dight,
His broad, outstretched horns, his airy thighs,
His glorious colors, and his glistening eyes.’
“The moths have also attracted the attention of the poet; and as they are dazzled by a lamp at night, and frequently fly into it and scorch themselves to death,they have been often compared to giddy youth, who rush thoughtlessly into dangerous pleasures, and are thus lost forever.
“The butterflies and moths have not only four wings and six legs, and two horns or feelers, but they have a little tube or proboscis, with which they suck in the juice of flowers. When this is not in use, it is nicely rolled up, and packed beneath the head of the animal, under a hairy cover made for the purpose.
“When examined with a glass, the body of the insect appears to be covered with hair, and the fine brilliant dust upon the wings is found to consist of minute scales.
“But the eyes of butterflies, are, perhaps, their most remarkable quality. Some of these are simple, while others are composed of a collection of magnifying lenses. It is said that in some butterflies the eye consists of sixteen thousand lenses. If so, it would seem that when a butterfly of this sort looks at a person, he sees sixteen thousand images of him! Of the butterfly tribe, some live upon the honey of flowers, others upon the leaves of plants, and others upon dead wood. Some of them subsist upon animal substances, and are very destructive to woollen cloths, furs and feathers. The honey-comb moth we have already mentioned as often infesting the bee-hive, and preying upon wax.
“While the butterflies, in their perfect state, have always attracted the attention and excited the interest of mankind, the wonderful steps by which they reach their perfect state have not formed a less interesting subject of observation. Most insects have three states of existence; they are first eggs, then worms, and then the winged and perfect insect.
“But the transformations of the butterfly have ever been regarded as very wonderful. The female deposits her eggs upon such plants as are proper to nourish the little caterpillars which are to proceed from them. The common white butterfly places hers upon cabbages. The tortoise-shell and peacock butterflies place theirs upon nettles, &c. These are generally attached by a kind of glue to the surface of the plant. The moths are usually more careful, for they generally deposit their eggs in some concealed place, and wrap them up carefully in a downy substance.
“Butterflies do not enshroud themselves in a silken case, or cocoon, spun from the mouth, as is done by many other insects; but their process is more wonderful. When the butterfly egg is hatched, it produces a caterpillar. This is a kind of heavy worm, usually furnished with sixteen feet.
“It grows rapidly after changing its skin, which process lasts three or four minutes, and frequently proves fatal. It is now furnished with twelve round eyes, and feeds voraciously upon leaves. Having reached its full size, it ceases to eat, and retires to some solitary place to undergo its wonderful transformation.
“Here it proceeds to form a mass of silken threads, which it spins from its mouth. This is attached to a proper place, and the caterpillar is soon seen suspended by the tail. It now raises its head a little, giving a curve to its back. This motion is repeated until a slit is formed, first behind the head, and then along the back. At length the skin of the larva disappears, and the chrysalis is formed. This consists of a smooth, shining mass, speckled with gold.
“The newly-formed chrysalis of a butterfly, when opened, is found to contain only a mass of pap, in which no trace of the limbs of the future butterfly can be observed, yet the outer covering is marked with all the external organs of the future butterfly in a very short time after the skin of the caterpillar hasbeen cast off. On opening the chrysalis, indeed, after a proper space, we shall find, encased in separate parts, the wings, eyes and other organs of the future butterfly.
“When the insect has remained in this pulpy or chrysalis state for a proper time, a motion may be perceived within. The skin, which is now thin and dry, gives way, and bursting into four distinct and regular pieces, liberates its little prisoner. This now emits a reddish colored liquid, which superstitious people have called bloody rain; its wings rapidly assume their proper size, and it joins its companions in the air. The old poet Spencer thus happily describes the new-born insect:
‘When he arriving, round about doth flyFrom bed to bed, from one to other border;And takes survey, with curious, busy eye,Of every flower and herb there set in order;Now this, now that, he tasteth tenderly,Yet none of them he rudely doth disorder;Nor with his feet, their silken leaves deface,But pastures on the pleasures of each place.’”
‘When he arriving, round about doth flyFrom bed to bed, from one to other border;And takes survey, with curious, busy eye,Of every flower and herb there set in order;Now this, now that, he tasteth tenderly,Yet none of them he rudely doth disorder;Nor with his feet, their silken leaves deface,But pastures on the pleasures of each place.’”
‘When he arriving, round about doth fly
From bed to bed, from one to other border;
And takes survey, with curious, busy eye,
Of every flower and herb there set in order;
Now this, now that, he tasteth tenderly,
Yet none of them he rudely doth disorder;
Nor with his feet, their silken leaves deface,
But pastures on the pleasures of each place.’”
About insects in general.
I will now give my readers a short chapter upon insects in general, extracted from Aunt Betsey Piper’s talk to her inquisitive nephew.
Insects are so called because they appear to be divided into two parts, and the wordinsectmeanscut apart. The insect tribe are divided by naturalists into several orders. The first consists of those that never have wings, as the spider, flea, louse, &c.; the second consists of those which have wings, but so cased up as not to appear when first produced, such as the grasshopper, earwig, dragon-fly, &c.; the third is of the moth and butterfly kind; the fourth such as come from a worm instead of a caterpillar, as the beetle, bee, fly, gnat, &c.
We are very apt to conceive that insects, from their extreme littleness, are very insignificant. But this is a wrong view of the subject. In the first place, they are exceedingly ingenious in their structure, and wonderful in their habits and instincts. A writer on natural history says, that if we compare insects with the higher ranks of nature, such as quadrupeds, birds, &c., we shall perceive in the former all the peculiarities which belong to the latter; the piercing eye of the lynx and the falcon, the hard shield of the armadillo, the splendid tail of the peacock, the imposing horns of the stag, the swiftness of the antelope, the fecundity of the hare, the architectural powers of the beaver, the climbing powers of the squirrel, the gambols of the monkey, the swimming of the frog, the burrowing of the mole, and the leaping of the kangaroo; all these things are found amongst insects, and often, indeed, in a redoubled degree. The eye of the fly, with its thousand lenses, the scales of the diamond beetle, the wonderful works of the hive, the ingenuity of the spider, the transformation of the butterfly,—these and many other interesting circumstances show that this class of animated nature possesses strong claims upon our attention.
The amazing extent of the insect tribes also increases the interest of this subject. In the royal collection at Berlin, in Prussia, there are no less than twenty-eight thousand species or kinds of beetle. Celebrated naturalists have calculated that there are, in the world, five hundred thousand different kinds of insects, and countless myriads of each kind. It is said that one single insect of the aphis or louse tribe may be the living parent of six thousand millions of descendants. If all the insects in the world were collected into one heap, it would doubtless rise ten times as high as the top of Bunker-Hill monument, near Boston.
The importance of insects may be gathered from another consideration.—Some of them are very useful. The bee we have already noticed. We may also mention the cochineal insect, which exists in great numbers in the East Indies and in South America. It is a minute creature, of the aphis tribe, one of which is hardly so large as a peppercorn. Yet it is produced in such quantities, that many thousands of pounds are sent every year, in a dried state, to America and Europe. They contain a coloring principle, called carmine, which produces an intensely red color. These insects are chiefly used for dying scarlet. In Brazil, large estates are devoted to the cultivation of plants, for the purpose of breeding them. Great quantities are also produced in different parts of Spain.
Among the useful insects, we may notice the Spanish fly, which is about three fourths of an inch in length, with brilliant green wings. These are shaken down from the trees, it being their habit to feign death when disturbed. They are calledcantharides, and are used in medicine, especially for producing blisters.
We might notice many other useful insects, but must pass them by. We might speak, also, of the beautiful fireflies, which appear in myriads, during the night, over our meadows and amid the forests; of the glow-worms, which seem to burn with a mild and steady blaze, to illuminate the darkness; and the great lantern moth of South America, which is sometimes used to decorate the heads of females, and several of which will answer the purpose of a torch.
But we must pass over these wonderful things, and consider that the surface of the earth, the waves of the sea, and the very atmosphere around the whole globe, are all the abodes of countless insects. Even the stalks and leaves of plants are filled with them. If you will take a microscope and look into the stalks of certain plants, you will see thousands of little busy, bustling insects there, all of them seeming to be in the full enjoyment of existence. Nay, if you will apply the microscope to a tumbler of pure water, you will see that this also is filled with living things. Thus the poet says:
“Full nature swarms with life; one wondrous massOf animals, creatures organized.Through subterranean cells,Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way,Earth animated heaves. The flowery leafWants not its soft inhabitants. Secure,Within its winding citadel, the stoneHolds multitudes. But chief the forest boughs,That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze,The downy orchard, and the melting pulpOf mellow fruit, the nameless nations feedOf evanescent insects. Where the poolStands mantled o’er with green, invisible,Amid the floating verdure, millions stray:* * * * Nor is the streamOf purest crystal, nor the lucid air,Though one transparent vacancy it seems,Void of their unseen people.”
“Full nature swarms with life; one wondrous massOf animals, creatures organized.Through subterranean cells,Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way,Earth animated heaves. The flowery leafWants not its soft inhabitants. Secure,Within its winding citadel, the stoneHolds multitudes. But chief the forest boughs,That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze,The downy orchard, and the melting pulpOf mellow fruit, the nameless nations feedOf evanescent insects. Where the poolStands mantled o’er with green, invisible,Amid the floating verdure, millions stray:* * * * Nor is the streamOf purest crystal, nor the lucid air,Though one transparent vacancy it seems,Void of their unseen people.”
“Full nature swarms with life; one wondrous mass
Of animals, creatures organized.
Through subterranean cells,
Where searching sunbeams scarce can find a way,
Earth animated heaves. The flowery leaf
Wants not its soft inhabitants. Secure,
Within its winding citadel, the stone
Holds multitudes. But chief the forest boughs,
That dance unnumbered to the playful breeze,
The downy orchard, and the melting pulp
Of mellow fruit, the nameless nations feed
Of evanescent insects. Where the pool
Stands mantled o’er with green, invisible,
Amid the floating verdure, millions stray:
* * * * Nor is the stream
Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air,
Though one transparent vacancy it seems,
Void of their unseen people.”
Conclusion.
I hope my readers are satisfied, by this time, that Inquisitive Jack, in pursuing the study of insects, was not wasting his time. It not only gave him a great deal of pleasure, but he obtained from it much useful information. He went on, from one step to another, until he understood the whole science of insects, which is calledEntomology.
But I have told you the story of our curious little friend, not so much to recommend the particular study of insects, as to show the utility of habits of observation and investigation. You have seen, by the story I have told you, that, by means of these habits, Jack not only enjoyed a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction, but that he became a verylearned man; but I must tell you, what I have before intimated, that his whole attention was not confined to insects. He observed and investigated plants and flowers, and thus became a botanist. He studied into the habits and nature of birds, and thus became an ornithologist; and, in short, he mastered the whole field of natural history. Perhaps I shall, some time or other, give you an account of his proceedings in relation to some of these matters.