Butterflies

Over the summer I spent 8 weeks in Costa Rica, and while there saw some amazing things. It was some of the most beautiful landscape that I have ever seen, and to go along with the beauty of the land were thousands of butterflies. They were everywhere, and one of the things numerous that caught my attention. Although I would say that most young boys are not avid collectors of butterflies, and are generally more enthralled with other more "gross" insects, I can see why Nabokov was so fascinated with them. Butterflies are beautiful creatures, breathtaking even. They float through the air with a grace unmatched by any other insect or animal. They come in a huge variety of shapes, colors, and forms; all designed for specific purpose. The enigma that is nature never ceases to amaze me. It is filled with creations more beautiful and inricate than anything designed by the human hand. Butterflies, in my opinion are just one such creation. I thought that I would include some of the pictures of them that I took while over there since Nabokov loved butterflies so much. Unlike him, I am not a butterfly conesieur, and don't know the names of the different species so I have just included the pictures.

This is a moth, not a butterfly, but I loved it for it's

unique look. It is difficult to tell from the picture, but it had

a much different texture than any moth I have ever seen. The

coloring is unique as well.

The next two pictures are of the same species of butterflies,

but show the difference between the

colors found on the inside and the outside of the wings.

Note the eyes, which Nabokov mentions a number of

times throughout Speak, Memory, on the outside wings.

Also, they reminded me of the species that he discovered because of

the brilliant blue hue of the their inner wings.

These last two pictures are of the same kind of butterlfy as well,

and look similar to the ones above, but are different.

One can see the differences if they look closely.