d approached one
of the blue flowers. A long curled sucker, fifty feet in length,
unrolled and was plunged down into the heart of the trumpet-shaped
flower. Gradually the blue color faded to mauve and then to a brilliant
crimson. The butterfly abandoned it when the change of color was
completed and flitted away to another of the blue blooms.

* * * * *

"What manner of thing is that?" demanded Damis.

"That was a member of the council," replied Attomanis. "She was chosen
to be one of those to perpetuate our race. Evolution has gone further
with us than on your planet but it will show you what in time you may
expect.

"Life started with an amoeba on Mars as it did on Earth and the slow
process of evolution followed similar lines. At one time forms like
yours were the ruling and guiding intelligences of Mars. They were,
however, a highly specialized form. As conditions changed, the form
changed. The head and chest grew larger as the air grew thinner until
the enfeebled trunk and limbs could no longer support their weight.
Gradually the form died out and was replaced by others.

"The forms which you call insects on your Earth were more primitive and
hardier forms and more readily adaptable. They increased in size and in
intelligence until they were ready to supplant all other forms. The last
vestiges of the bipeds were carefully nurtured and guarded by our
forefathers until the vanishing atmosphere made their survival
impossible. The insect form became supreme.

"We multiplied with extreme rapidity and would have overcrowded the
planet had we not learned several things. Our present form of life is
immature in many ways. For example, we are totally unable to reproduce
our kind. That is the function of the next phase. In this form, however,
the intelligence reaches its maximum. As a result, all living creatures,
except selected ones, have their growth arrested at the larval stage and
pass their entire life in this form. Certain ones at long intervals of
time as the population diminishes, are allowed to spin cocoons and hatch
out in the form you have witnessed. This form is almost brainless, the
securing of nourishment from flowers and reproducing their kind being
the limits of their intelligence. The eggs are maturing in the body of
the one you saw. Soon she will lay many thousands of them and then, her
life mission accomplished, she will die. We will gather these eggs and
te