The Butterfly Book Part 54

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

Westwood's Yellow occurs in Texas and Arizona, but is not common. It is abundant farther south.

(7) =Terias lisa=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate x.x.xVII, Fig. 13, ?; Plate II, Fig. 3, _larva_; Plate V, Fig. 56, _chrysalis_ (The Little Sulphur).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Allied to the three following species, from which it may at once be distinguished by the absence of the black bar on the inner margin of the fore wings and by the profusely mottled surface of the under side of the hind wings. It is subject to considerable variation, albino females and melanic males being sometimes found, as well as dwarfed specimens of very small size. Expanse, 1.25-1.60 inch.

_Early Stages._--These have not been thoroughly studied and described, in spite of the fact that the insect is very common in many easily accessible localities. The caterpillar feeds on _Ca.s.sia_ and on clover.

_T. lisa_ ranges from New England south and west as far as the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, and into Mexico and Honduras. It is found in the Antilles and Bermuda. An interesting account of the appearance of a vast swarm of these b.u.t.terflies in the Bermudas is given by Jones in "Psyche," vol. i, p. 121:

"Early in the morning of the first day of October last year (1874), several persons living on the north side of the main island perceived, as they thought, a cloud coming over from the northwest, which drew nearer and nearer to the sh.o.r.e, on reaching which it divided into two parts, one of which went eastward, and the other westward, gradually falling upon the land. They were not long in ascertaining that what they had taken for a cloud was an immense concourse of small yellow b.u.t.terflies (_Terias lisa_, Boisduval), which flitted about all the open gra.s.sy patches and cultivated grounds in a lazy manner, as if fatigued after their long voyage over the deep. Fishermen out near the reefs, some few miles to the north of the island, very early that morning, stated that numbers of these insects fell upon their boats, literally covering them. They did not stay long upon the islands, however, only a few days, but during that time thousands must have fallen victims to the vigorous appet.i.te of the bluebird (_Sialia sialis_, Baird) and blackbird (_Mimus carolinensis_, Gray), which were continually preying upon them."

As the nearest point of land is Cape Hatteras, about six hundred miles distant, it is seen that, weak and feeble as this little creature appears, it must possess, when aided by favoring winds, great power of sustained flight.

(8) =Terias elathea=, Cramer, Plate x.x.xVII, Fig. 12, ? (Elathea).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Distinguished from its near ally, _T. delia_, by the fact that the ground-color of the hind wings is white. The female in this, as in the allied species, is without the black bar on the inner margin of the primaries. Expanse, 1.25-1.40 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

_Elathea_ is found in Florida, Mexico, and the Antilles.

(9) =Terias delia=, Cramer, Plate x.x.xVII, Fig. 14, ? (Delia).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Almost exactly like the preceding species, but having the upper side of the hind wings yellow. On the under side the fore wing at the tip and the entire hind wing are red. Expanse, 1.25-1.50 inch.

_Early Stages._--But little is known of them. The caterpillar feeds on _Ca.s.sia_.

_Delia_ occurs commonly in the Gulf States.

(10) =Terias jucunda=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate x.x.xVII, Fig. 15, ?; Fig. 16, ?, _under side_ (The Fairy Yellow).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Distinguished from the preceding species by the dark marginal band surrounding the hind wing and the pale under surface.

Expanse, 1.60-1.75 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

This little species is found in the Gulf States.

+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | EXPLANATION OF PLATE x.x.xVII | | | | 1. _Terias gundlachia_, Poey, ?. | | 2. _Terias proterpia_, Fabricius, ?. | | 3. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, ?. | | 4. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, ?. | | 5. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, var. _flava_, | | Strecker, ?. | | 6. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, ?, | | _under side_. | | 7. _Terias mexicana_, Boisduval, ?. | | 8. _Terias mexicana_, Boisduval, ?, | | _under side_. | | 9. _Terias damaris_, Felder, ?. | | 10. _Terias damaris_, Felder, ?, | | _under side_. | | 11. _Terias westwoodi_, Boisduval, ?. | | 12. _Terias elathea_, Cramer, ?. | | 13. _Terias lisa_, Boisd.-Lec., ?. | | 14. _Terias delia_, Cramer, ?. | | 15. _Terias jucunda_, Boisd.-Lec., ?. | | 16. _Terias jucunda_, Boisd.-Lec., ?, | | _under side_. | | 17. _Dismorphia melite_, Linnaeus, ?. | | 18. _Dismorphia melite_, Linnaeus, ?. | | | | [Ill.u.s.tration PLATE x.x.xVII.] | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

RED RAIN

"The lepidopterous insects in general, soon after they emerge from the pupa state, and commonly during their first flight, discharge some drops of a red-colored fluid, more or less intense in different species, which, in some instances, where their numbers have been considerable, have produced the appearance of a 'shower of blood,' as this natural phenomenon is sometimes called.

"Showers of blood have been recorded by historians and poets as preternatural--have been considered in the light of prodigies, and regarded, where they have happened, as fearful prognostics of impending evil.

"There are two pa.s.sages in Homer, which, however poetical, are applicable to a rain of this kind; and among the prodigies which took place after the death of the great dictator, Ovid particularly mentions a shower of blood:

"'Saepe faces visae mediis ardere sub astris, Saepe inter nimbos guttae cecidere cruentae.'

"('With threatening signs the lowering skies were fill'd, And sanguine drops from murky clouds distilled.')

"Among the numerous prodigies reported by Livy to have happened in the year 214 B.C., it is instanced that at Mantua a stagnating piece of water, caused by the overflowing of the river Mincius, appeared as of blood; and in the cattle-market at Rome a shower of blood fell in the Istrian Street. After mentioning several other remarkable phenomena that happened during that year, Livy concludes by saying that these prodigies were expiated, conformably to the answers of the aruspices, by victims of the greater kinds, and supplication was ordered to be performed to all the deities who had shrines at Rome. Again, it is stated by Livy that many alarming prodigies were seen at Rome in the year 181 B.C., and others reported from abroad; among which was a shower of blood which fell in the courts of the temples of Vulcan and Concord. After mentioning that the image of Juno Sospita shed tears, and that a pestilence broke out in the country, this writer adds that these prodigies, and the mortality which prevailed, alarmed the Senate so much that they ordered the consuls to sacrifice to such G.o.ds as their judgment should direct victims of the larger kinds, and that the decemvirs should consult their books. Pursuant to their direction, a supplication for one day was proclaimed to be performed at every shrine in Rome; and they advised, besides, and the Senate voted, and the consul proclaimed, that there should be a supplication and public wors.h.i.+p for three days throughout all Italy. In the year 169 B.C., Livy also mentions that a shower of blood fell in the middle of the day. The decemvirs were again called upon to consult their books, and again were sacrifices offered to the deities. The account, also, of Livy, of the b.l.o.o.d.y sweat on some of the statues of the G.o.ds, must be referred to the same phenomenon, as the predilection of those ages to marvel, says Thomas Browne, and the want of accurate investigation in the cases recorded, as well as the rare occurrence of these atmospherical depositions in our own times, inclines us to include them among the blood-red drops deposited by insects.

"In Stow's 'Annales of England' we have two accounts of showers of blood, and from an edition printed in London in 1592, we make our quotations: 'Rivallus, sonne of Cunedagius, succeeded his father, in whose time (in the year 766 B.C.) it rained bloud three dayes: after which tempest ensued a great mult.i.tude of venemous flies, which slew much people, and then a great mortalitie throughout this lande, caused almost desolation of the same.' The second account is as follows: 'In the time of Brithricus (A.D. 786) it rayned blood, which falling on men's clothes, appeared like crosses.'

"Hollingshed, Grafton, and Fabyan have also recorded these instances in their respective chronicles of England.

"A remarkable instance of b.l.o.o.d.y rain is introduced into the very interesting Icelandic ghost-story of Thorgunna. It appears that in the year of our Lord 1009 a woman called Thorgunna came from the Hebrides to Iceland, where she stayed at the house of Thorodd; and during the hay season a shower of blood fell, but only, singularly, on that portion of the hay she had not piled up as her share, which so appalled her that she betook herself to her bed, and soon afterward died. She left, to finish the story, a remarkable will, which, from not being executed, was the cause of several violent deaths, the appearance of ghosts, and, finally, a legal action of ejectment against the ghosts, which, it need hardly be said, drove them effectually away.

"In 1017 a shower of blood fell in Aquitaine; and Sleidan relates that in the year 1553 a vast mult.i.tude of b.u.t.terflies swarmed through a great part of Germany, and sprinkled plants, leaves, buildings, clothes, and men with b.l.o.o.d.y drops, as if it had rained blood. We learn also from Bateman's 'Doome' that these 'drops of bloude upon hearbes and trees' in 1553 were deemed among the forewarnings of the deaths of Charles and Philip, dukes of Brunswick.

"In Frankfort, in the year 1296, among other prodigies, some spots of blood led to a ma.s.sacre of the Jews, in which ten thousand of these unhappy descendants of Abraham lost their lives.

"In the beginning of July, 1608, an extensive shower of blood took place at Aix, in France, which threw the people of that place into the utmost consternation, and, which is a much more important fact, led to the first satisfactory and philosophical explanation of this phenomenon, but too late, alas! to save the Jews of Frankfort. This explanation was given by M. Peiresc, a celebrated philosopher of that place, and is thus referred to by his biographer, Ga.s.sendi: 'Nothing in the whole year 1608 did more please him than that he observed and philosophized about, the _b.l.o.o.d.y rain_, which was commonly reported to have fallen about the beginning of July; great drops thereof were plainly to be seen, both in the city itself, upon the walls of the churchyard of the church, which is near the city wall, and upon the city walls themselves; also upon the walls of villages, hamlets, and towns, for some miles round about; for in the first place, he went himself to see those wherewith the stones were coloured, and did what he could to come to speak with those husbandmen, who, beyond Lambesk, were reported to have been affrighted at the falling of said rain, that they left their work, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them into the adjacent houses. Whereupon, he found that it was a fable that was reported, touching those husbandmen.

Nor was he pleased that naturalists should refer this kind of rain to vapours drawn up out of red earth aloft in the air, which congealing afterwards into liquor, fall down in this form; because such vapours as are drawne aloft by heat, ascend without colour, as we may know by the alone example of red roses, out of which the vapours that arise by heat are congealed into transparent water. He was less pleased with the common people, and some divines, who judged that it was the work of the devils and witches who had killed innocent young children; for this he counted a mere conjecture, possibly also injurious to the goodness and providence of G.o.d.

"'In the meanwhile an accident happened, out of which he conceived he had collected the true cause thereof. For, some months before, he shut up in a box a certain palmer-worm which he had found, rare for its bigness and form; which, when he had forgotten, he heard a buzzing in the box, and when he opened it, found the palmer-worm, having cast its coat, to be turned into a beautiful b.u.t.terfly, which presently flew away, leaving in the bottom of the box a red drop as broad as an ordinary sous or s.h.i.+lling; and because this happened about the beginning of the same month and about the same time an incredible mult.i.tude of b.u.t.terflies were observed flying in the air, he was therefore of opinion that such kind of b.u.t.terflies resting on the walls had there shed such like drops, and of the same bigness. Whereupon, he went the second time, and found, by experience, that those drops were not to be found on the housetops, nor upon the round sides of the stones which stuck out, as it would have happened, if blood had fallen from the sky, but rather where the stones were somewhat hollowed, and in holes, where such small creatures might shroud and nestle themselves. Moreover, the walls which were so spotted, were not in the middle of towns, but they were such as bordered upon the fields, nor were they on the highest parts, but only so moderately high as b.u.t.terflies are commonly wont to fly.

"'Thus, therefore, he interpreted that which Gregory of Tours relates touching a b.l.o.o.d.y rain seen at Paris in divers places, in the days of Childebert, and on a certain house in the territory of Senlis; also that which is storied, touching raining of blood about the end of June, in the days of King Robert; so that the blood which fell upon flesh, garments or stones could not be washed out, but that which fell on wood might; for it was the same season of b.u.t.terflies, and experience hath taught us, that no water will wash these spots out of the stones, while they are fresh and new. When he had said these and such like things to various, a great company of auditors being present, it was agreed that they should go together and search out the matter, and as they went up and down, here and there, through the fields, they found many drops upon stones and rocks; but they were only on the hollow and under parts of the stones, but not upon those which lay most open to the skies.'"

+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | EXPLANATION OF PLATE x.x.xVIII | | | | 1. _Papilio zolicaon_, Boisduval, ?. | | 2. _Papilio daunus_, Boisduval, ?. | | 3. _Papilio pilumnus_, Boisduval, ?. | | | | (The figures in this plate are reduced, being only two | | thirds of the natural size.) | | | | [Ill.u.s.tration PLATE x.x.xVIII.] | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

"This memorable shower of blood was produced by the _Vanessa urticae_ or _V. polychloros_, most probably, since these species of b.u.t.terflies are said to have been uncommonly plentiful at the time when, and in the particular district where, the phenomenon was observed."

FRANK COWAN, _Curious History of Insects_.

FOR A DESIGN OF A b.u.t.tERFLY RESTING ON A SKULL

"Creature of air and light, Emblem of that which may not fade or die, Wilt thou not speed thy flight, To chase the south wind through the glowing sky?

What lures thee thus to stay, With Silence and Decay, Fix'd on the wreck of cold Mortality?

"The thoughts once chamber'd there Have gather'd up their treasures, and are gone-- Will the dust tell us where They that have burst the prison-house are flown?

Rise, nursling of the day, If thou wouldst trace their way-- Earth hath no voice to make the secret known.

"Who seeks the vanish'd bird By the forsaken nest and broken sh.e.l.l?-- Far thence he sings unheard, Yet free and joyous in the woods to dwell.

Thou of the suns.h.i.+ne born, Take the bright wings of morn!

Thy hope calls heavenward from yon ruin'd cell."

MRS. HEMAN.