to support themselves in the most
literal sense. Hence their place in these high stations of the world is
taken by the gay and airy butterflies, which have lighter bodies and a
much bigger expanse of wing-area to buoy them up. In the valleys and
plains the bee competes at an advantage with the butterflies for all
the sweets of life: but in this broad sub-glacial belt on the
mountain-sides the butterflies in turn have things all their own way.
They flit about like monarchs of all they survey, without a rival in
the world to dispute their supremacy.

And how does the preponderance of butterflies in the upper regions of
the air affect the colour and brilliancy of the flowers? Simply thus.
Bees, as we are all aware on the authority of the great Dr. Watts, are
industrious creatures which employ each shining hour (well-chosen
epithet, 'shining') for the good of the community, and to the best
purpose. The bee, in fact, is the _bon bourgeois_ of the insect world:
he attends strictly to business, loses no time in wild or reckless
excursions, and flies by the straightest path from flower to flower of
the same species with mathematical precision. Moreover, he is careful,
cautious, observant, and steady-going--a model business man, in fact,
of sound middle-class morals and sober middle-class intelligence. No
flitting for him, no coquetting, no fickleness. Therefore, the flowers
that have adapted themselves to his needs, and that depend upon him
mainly or solely for fertilisation, waste no unnecessary material on
those big flaunting coloured posters which we human observers know as
petals. They have, for the most part, simple blue or purple flowers,
tubular in shape and, individually, inconspicuous in hue; and they are
oftenest arranged in long spikes of blossom to avoid wasting the time
of their winged Mr. Bultitudes. So long as they are just bright enough
to catch the bee's eye a few yards away, they are certain to receive a
visit in due season from that industrious and persistent commercial
traveller. Having a circle of good customers upon whom they can depend
with certainty for fertilisation, they have no need to waste any large
proportion of their substance upon expensive advertisements or gaudy
petals.

It is just the opposite with butterflies. Those gay and irrepressible
creatures, the fashionable and frivolous element in the insect world,
gad about from flower to flower over great distances at once, and think
much more of