The Insect World: Being a Popular Account of the Orders of Insects

The Painted Lady {Vanessa \Cynthia\ carditis Fig, 164) owes its vernacular name to the beauty of its colours. The upper wings are covered above with tawny spots, rather cerise -coloured towards the interior, and with white spots on the hind margin towards the tip of the wing; the whole on a lightish ground. The lower wings are of a reddish tawny colour with many black spots, a circular row of which borders the wing. The caterpillar is bristly, brownish, with yellow lateral broken lines. It lives in solitude on many species of thistle, on the artichoke, the milfoil or yarrow, &c. It makes for itself a

web, rather like a spider's nest, and lives therein. The chrysalis is greyish, with numerous golden dots. The perfect insect shows itself almost without interruption, from spring till autumn. It flies rapidly, and in certain seasons is abundant. The Vanessa {Grapta) C. album (Fig. 165), or Comma Butterfly, is common in parts of England. Above, its wings are tawny, spotted with black. Below, they are more The Comma Butterfly (tw^^^ c. album). or less brown, with different tints, and sometimes a little blue. On the under side of the lower wings is a white spot of the form of a C. " This spot," says old Geoffroy, ''caused this butterfly to have the name oi gamma given to it, and its colour of Viable enr/iufne (sic), as also the singular cut of its wings, has caused it to be called by others Robert le Diabk:' Its caterpillar lives on the nettle, the honeysuckle, the currant, the hazel, and the elm. It is of a reddish brown, with a white band on the back. Reaumur calls it the Beadle, comparing it to the church beadles, who usually dress in glaring colours.

The brilliant Vanessce, of which we have just briefly described some remarkable species, have been the cause of superstitious terror. This must at first sight seem incredible, but it has arisen thus: When they have just quitted the pupa, a red-coloured liquid drops from them. If a great many butterflies are hatched at the same time, and

in the same place, the ground becomes, as it were, sprinkled with drops of blood. Hence the origin of some of those pretended showers of bloody which, at different periods, have terrified the ignorant, too much imbued with religious superstitions.

At the beginning of the month of July, 1608, one of these supposed showers of blood fell on the outskirts of Aix, in Provence, and this 7'ain extended for the distance of half a league from the town..Some priests of the town deceived themselves, or, desirous

of turning to account the credulity o'f the people, did not hesitate toattribute this event to Satanic agency. Pbrtunately, a learned man, M. de Peiresc, who was not only well versed in the knowledge of ancient literature, but who was, moreover, familiar with the natural sciences, discovered that a prodigious multitude of butterflies were flying about in the places which were thus miraculously covered with blood. He collected some chrysalides and put them into a box, and letting them hatch there, observed the blood-like liquid, and hastened to make it known to the friends of the miraculous. He established the fact that the supposed drops of blood were only found in cavities, in interstices, under the copings of walls, &:c., and never on the surface of stones turned upwards; and proved by these observations that they were drops of a red liquid deposited by the butterflies.

However, in spite of the reassuring remarks of the learned Peiresc, the people in the outskirts of Aix continued to ^el a genuine terror at the sight of these tears of blood which stained the soil. Peiresc attributes to this same cause some other showers of blood related by historians, and which took place about the same season. Such was a shower which was supposed to have fallen in the time of Childebert, at Paris, and in a house in the territory of Senlis. Such again was a so-called bloody shower which showed itself towards the end of June, during the reign of King Robert of France. Reaumur points out the large Tortoise-shell as being the most capable of spreading these sorts of alarms, founded on a deplorable ignorance and the spirit of superstition. ''Thousands," says he, "change into pup^ towards the end of May or the beginning of June. Before their transformation they leave the trees, often fastening themselves to walls, and, making their way into country-houses, they suspend themselves to the frames of doors, &c. If the butterflies which come out of them towards the end of June or the beginning of July were all to fly together, there would be enough of them to form little clouds or swarms, and consequently there would be enough to cover the stones in certain localities with spots of a blood-red colour, and to make those who

LEPIDOPTERA,

only seek to terrify themselves, and to see prodigies in everything, believe that during the night it had rained blood."

In the family of Nymphalidm^ we will first mention the White Admiral (Fig. 166). The upper side of its wings is of a dark brown, almost black, traversed in the middle by a white band divided into spots very close to each other. The lower part of the wings is ferruginous, with a band and spots of white, as on the upper, besides which it has a double hinder transverse row ofr ublack1 1 dots.J. riMIhese Fig. 166. — V^Vxte. KAm\x2{Liineiiitis sibtlla). dots are followed on the hind wings by some white spots, and the whole of the inner margin is of a glossy ashy blue, with the base

Fig. 167 — Limenitis Camilla.

spotted with black. This butterfly is not rare in the month of July in woods in the south of England, where it flies round and settles lipon the branches of the underwood. The caterpillar is of a delicate

IQO THE INSECT WORLD.

green, with a lateral white stripe, and rather bristly. It feeds on honeysuckle. The pupa is angular, of greenish colour, with golden spots. The Limeiiitis Camilla (Fig. 167), of which the black on the wings is shot with blue, is not found in England.

In the month of July the Apatii7'a ilia (Fig. 168) and the Purple Emperor (Apatura iris), sylvan insects of strong flight, whose wings are beautifully shot with violet blue when examined in certain lights —

Fig. 168. — Apptura ilia.

the latter resembling Ilia, but wanting the eye-like spots on the front wings — are met with, /m only is found in Great Britain. Both species occur in the environs of Paris.

The Char axes jasius (Fig. 169) which is found along the whole of the Mediterranean coast, has its lower wings terminated in two points, whence the peasants call this buttei-fly the Pacha "ivith tiao tails. The upper part of its wings is of a brown colour of changing hues. The hind margin of the fore wings has along it a tawny band with a fine black line running round. The hind wings have their hinder margin black, and garnished with a little white fringe. The two tails are black, and the groove of the inner margin is of an ashy grey. The

underneath of the wings is ferruginous, with spots of an olive brown set in a framework of white towards the base.

The caterpillar is green, and flat like a slug, with four yellow

Fig. 169.- Charaxes jaslus.

horns bordered with red (Fig. 170). It lives on the arbutus, a shrub common enough on the hills and mountains of the coast of the Mediterranean. To the family of the Satyridi belong the Erebia Euryak

ot

e(

Fig. 170. — Larva of Charaxes jasius Erebia Euryale. Til about to change to a pupa.

!(Fig. 171), which is found in the month of July in sub-alpine regions; jthe Chiofwbas aello (Fig. 172), which is found in the Alps of Switzerland, 1'ofof Tyrol,July, onandtheof summitSavoy, ofand Montanvers,is common nearenough,the Merin thede Glacemonth; I

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THE INSECT WORLD.

the Satyrus janira, or Meadow Brown (Fig. 173), which is very common, in the months of June and July, in woods and fields.

Fig. 172.—Chionobas aello.

We now pass on to the second section of Lepidoptera.

It contains those whose flight in the majority of species is nocturnal or by twilight, but by day in some species. The antennæ are more or less swollen out in the middle or before their extremities, and, independently of

Fig. 173.—Meadow brown (Satyrus [Hipparchia] janira).

that, sometimes prismatic, sometimes cylindrical, sometimes pectinated or indented. The body—which was small in comparison to the wings, and which was remarkably thin between the thorax and the abdomen in the first section of Lepidoptera—is in this section very much larger in proportion to the wings, and is not drawn tightly in between the thorax and the abdomen. The wings are horizontal or slightly inclined when the insect is at rest; the upper then cover the lower, which are generally comparatively short and kept back by a bridle on the first, in the case of the males only.

LEPIDOPTERA,

We will take the genus Sesia as the representative of the Sesiidce. These singular insects have membranous wings, and resemble various

Fig. 174. — Sesia apiformls. Fig. 175. — Six-spot Burnet Moth {Zygcenajllipendulce).

species of Hymenoptera. The largest species is the Sesia apifonnis (big. 174), that is, bee-hke, which is found in Britain, resting on the trunks of willows and poplar-trees, from the end of May till the middle of July. It resembles a hornet, and is of the same size and has the same colours; only they are not quite so bright. When this moth is just hatched its wings are ferruginous; but its scales, light and caducous, fall as soon as the insect begins to fly. The caterpillar, which lives in the trunks or roots of willows and poplar-trees, is of a yellowish colour. The pupa is long, of a brownish colour, enclosed in a cocoon composed of agglutinated saw-dust, the product of the caterpillar's erosions. In the middle of summer the meadows are frequented by moths, with brilliant black and velvety wings, marked with red, which fly heavily, and only for a short time together. They remain motionless during the great heat of the day. These are the Zyg(Ence, or Burnets, of the family of the ZygcBuidce. The Ram Sphinx of Geofifroy, or the Six-spot Burnet Fig.of the176. Zyga;na— Cocoon Moth {ZygcBua jilipeiididce^ Fig. 175), is common from filipenduia;. the end of June till the beginning of August. Its legs, antennae, head, and body are black and rather hairy; its upper wings are of a brilliant bluish green, with six spots of a beautiful red on each, bordered by a little green. The caterpillar is yellow, spotted with black; its cocoon is boat-shaped, with longitudinal furrows, and is straw colour (Fig. 176). 64