Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions Part 21

Dust is commonly attributed as the cause of this phenomenon, but will satisfactorily explain only a few instances. A writer for Chambers'

Journal, in an article on showers of red dust, b.l.o.o.d.y rain, etc., says: "In October, 1846, a fearful and furious hurricane visited Lyon, and the district between that city and Gren.o.ble, during which occurred a fall of blood-rain. A number of drops were caught and preserved, and when the moisture was evaporated, there was seen the same kind of dust (as fell in showers in Genoa in 1846) of a yellowish brown or red color. When placed under the microscope, it exhibited a great proportion of fresh water and marine formations. Phytolytharia were numerous, as also 'neatly-lobed vegetable scales;' which, as Ehrenberg observes, is sufficient to disprove the a.s.sertion that the substance is found in the atmosphere itself, and is not of European origin. For the first time, a living organism was met with, the '_Eunota amphyoxis_, with its ovaries green, and therefore capable of life.' Here was a solution of the mystery: the dust, mingling with the drops of water falling from the clouds, produced the red rain. Its appearance is that of reddened water, and it cannot be called blood-like without exaggeration."[766]

To conclude the history of b.l.o.o.d.y rain, the following is most appropriate: In 1841, some negroes, in Wilson County, Tennessee, reported that it had rained blood in the tobacco field where they had been at work; that near noon there was a rattling noise like rain or hail, and drops of blood, as they supposed, fell from a red cloud that was flying over. Prof. Troost, of Nashville, was called upon to explain the phenomenon; and, after citing many instances of red rain, red snow, and so called showers of blood, he concluded his learned article with this opinion: "A wind might have taken up part of an animal, which was in a state of decomposition, and have brought it in contact with an electric cloud, in which it was kept in a state of partial fluidity or viscosity. In this case, the cloud which was seen by the negroes, as the state in which the materials were, is accounted for."

Prof. Troost published this profound solution in the forty-first volume of Silliman's Journal; but in the forty-fourth of the same magazine a much more satisfactory one is given, for it is there stated "that the whole affair was a hoax devised by the negroes, who pretended to have seen the shower for the sake of practicing on the credulity of their masters. They had scattered the decaying flesh of a dead hog over the tobacco leaves."[767]

Another phenomenon to be particularly noticed in the history of the b.u.t.terflies, is their appearance at certain times in countless numbers migrating from place to place. H. Kapp, a writer in the _Naturforsch_, observed on a calm sunny day a prodigious flight of the Cabbage-b.u.t.terfly, _Pontia bra.s.sicae_, which pa.s.sed from northeast to southwest, and lasted two hours.[768] Kalm, the Swedish traveler, saw these last insects midway in the British Channel.[769] Lindley tells us that in Brazil, in the beginning of March, 1803, for many days successively there was an immense flight of white and yellow b.u.t.terflies, probably of the same tribe as the _Pontia bra.s.sicae_. They were observed never to settle, but proceeded in a direction from northwest to southeast. No buildings seemed to stop them from steadily pursuing their course; which being to the ocean, at only a small distance, they must all have inevitably perished. It is to be remarked that at this time no other kind of b.u.t.terfly was to be seen, though the country usually abounds in such a variety.[770]

A somewhat similar migration of b.u.t.terflies was observed in Switzerland on the 8th or 10th of June, 1828. The facts are as follows: Madame de Meuron Wolff and her family, established during the summer in the district of Grandson, Canton de Vaud, perceived with surprise an immense flight of b.u.t.terflies traversing the garden with great rapidity.

They were all of the species called _Belle Dame_ by the French, and by the English the Painted Lady (_Vanessa cardui_, Stephens). They were all flying close together in the same direction, from south to north, and were so little afraid when any one approached, that they turned not to the right or to the left. The flight continued for two hours without interruption, and the column was about ten or fifteen feet broad. They did not stop to alight on flowers; but flew onward, low and equally.

This fact is the more singular, when it is considered that the larvae of the _Vanessa cardui_ are not gregarious, but are solitary from the moment they are hatched; nor are the b.u.t.terflies themselves usually found together in numbers. Professor Bonelli, of Turin, however, observed a similar flight of the same species of b.u.t.terflies in the end of March preceding their appearance at Grandson, when it may be presumed they had just emerged from the pupa state. Their flight, as at Grandson, was from south to north, and their numbers were so immense, that at night the flowers were literally covered with them. As the spring advanced, their numbers diminished; but even in June a few still continued. A similar flight of b.u.t.terflies is recorded about the end of the last century by M. Loche, in the Memoirs of the Turin Academy.

During the whole season, these b.u.t.terflies, as well as their larvae, were very abundant, and more beautiful than usual.[771]

Pallas once saw such vast flights of the orange-tipped b.u.t.terfly, _Pontia cardamines_, in the vicinity of Winofka, that he at first mistook them for flakes of snow.[772] At Barbados, some days previous to the hurricane in 1780, the trees and shrubs were entirely covered with a species of b.u.t.terfly of the most beautiful colors, so as to screen from the sight the branches, and even the trunks of the trees. In the afternoon before the gale came on, and when it was quite still, they all suddenly disappeared. The gale came on soon after.[773] Darwin tells us that several times, when the "Beagle" had been some miles off the mouth of the Plata, and at other times when off the sh.o.r.es of Northern Patagonia, the air was filled with insects: that one evening, when the ship was about ten miles from the Bay of San Blas, vast numbers of b.u.t.terflies, in bands or flocks of countless myriads, extended as far as the eye could range. The seamen cried out "It was raining b.u.t.terflies,"

and such in fact, continues Darwin, was the appearance. Several species were in this flock, but they were chiefly of a kind very similar to, but not identical with, the common English _Colias edusa_. Some moths and hymenopterous insects accompanied the b.u.t.terflies; and a fine beetle (_Calosoma_) flew on board.[774] Captain Adams mentions an extraordinary flight of small b.u.t.terflies, with spotted wings, which took place at Annamaboo, on the Guinea coast, after a tornado. The wind veered to the northward, and blew fresh from the land, with thick mist, which brought off from the sh.o.r.e so many of these insects, that for one hour the atmosphere was so filled with them as to represent a snow-storm driving past the vessel at a rapid rate, which was lying at anchor about two miles from the sh.o.r.e.[775]

Mr. Charles J. Anderson encountered, in South-western Africa, for two consecutive days, such immense myriads of lemon-colored b.u.t.terflies that the sound caused by their wings was such as to resemble "the distant murmuring of waves on the sea-sh.o.r.e." They always pa.s.sed in the same direction as the wind blew, and, as numbers were constantly alighting on the flowers, their appearance at such times was not unlike "the falling of leaves before a gentle autumnal breeze."[776]

In Bermuda, October 10, 1847, the b.u.t.terfly, _Terias lisa_ of Boisduval, suddenly appeared in great abundance, hundreds being seen in every direction. Previous to that occasion, Mr. Hurdis, the observer of this flight, had never met with this b.u.t.terfly. In the course of a few days, they had all disappeared.[777]

In Ceylon, in the months of April and May, migrations of b.u.t.terflies (mostly the _Callidryas hilariae_, _C. alcmeone_, and _C. pyranthe_, with straggling individuals of the genus _Eupla_, _E. coras_, and _E.

prothoe_) are quite frequent. Their pa.s.sage is generally in a northeasterly direction. The flights of these delicate insects appear to the eye of a white or pale yellow hue, and apparently to extend miles in breadth, and of such prodigious length as to occupy hours, and even days, in their uninterrupted pa.s.sage. A friend of Tennent, traveling from Kandy to Kornegalle, drove for _nine miles_ through such a cloud of white b.u.t.terflies, which was pa.s.sing _across_ the road by which he went.

Whence these immense numbers of b.u.t.terflies come no one knows, and whither going no one can tell. But the natives have a superst.i.tious belief that their flight is ultimately directed to Adam's Peak, and that their pilgrimage ends on reaching that sacred mountain.[778]

Moufet says: "Wert thou as strong as Milo or Hercules, and wert fenced or guarded about with an host of giants for force and valour, remember that such an army was put to the worst by an army of b.u.t.terflies flying in troops in the air, in the year 1104, and they hid the light of the sun like a cloud. Licosthenes relates, that on the third day of August, 1543, that no hearb was left by reason of their mult.i.tudes, and they had devoured all the sweet dew and natural moisture, and they had burned up the very gra.s.se that was consumed with their dry dung."[779]

The most beautiful as well as pleasing emblem among the Egyptians was exhibited under the character of Psyche--the Soul. This was originally no other than a b.u.t.terfly: but it afterwards was represented as a lovely female child with the beautiful wings of that insect. The b.u.t.terfly, after its first and second stages as an egg and larva, lies for a season in a manner dead; and is inclosed in a sort of coffin. In this state it remains a shorter or longer period; but at last bursting its bonds, it comes out with new life, and in the most beautiful attire. The Egyptians thought this a very proper picture of the soul of man, and of the immortality, to which it aspired. But they made it more particularly an emblem of Osiris; who having been confined in an oak or coffin, and in a state of death, at last quitted his prison, and enjoyed a renewal of life.[780] This symbol pa.s.sed over to the Greeks and Romans, who also considered the b.u.t.terfly as the symbol of Zephyr.[781]

Among the coats of arms of several of our most celebrated tribes of Indians, Baron Lahontan mentions one, that of the "Illinese," which bore a beech-leaf with a b.u.t.terfly argent.[782]

The sight of a trio of b.u.t.terflies is considered an omen of death.[783]

An English superst.i.tion.

If a b.u.t.terfly enters a house, a death is sure to follow shortly in the family occupying it; if it enters through the window, the death will be that of an infant or very young person. As far as I know this superst.i.tion is peculiar to Maryland.

If a b.u.t.terfly alights upon your head, it foretells good news from a distance. This superst.i.tion obtains in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The first b.u.t.terfly seen in the summer brings good luck to him who catches it. This notion prevails in New York.

In Western Pennsylvania, it is believed that if the chrysalides of b.u.t.terflies be found suspended mostly on the under sides of rails, limbs, etc., as it were to protect them from rain, that there will soon be much rain, or, as it is termed, a "rainy spell"; but, on the contrary, if they are found on twigs and slender branches, that the weather will be dry and clear.

Du Halde and Grosier tell us that the b.u.t.terflies of the mountain of Lo-few-shan, in the province of Quang-tong, China, are so much esteemed for their size and beauty, that they are sent to court, where they become a part of certain ornaments in the palaces. The wings of these b.u.t.terflies are very large, and their colors surprisingly diversified and lively.[784] Dionysius Kao, a native of China, also remarks, in his Geographical Description of that Empire, that the b.u.t.terflies of Quang-tong are generally sent to the emperor, as they form a part of the furniture of the imperial cabinets.[785]

Osbeck says the Chinese put up insects in boxes made of coa.r.s.e wood, without covering, and lined with paper, which they carry round to sell; each box bringing half a piastre. Of the b.u.t.terflies, which were the princ.i.p.al insects thus sold, he enumerates twenty-one species.[786]

The Chinese children make b.u.t.terflies of paper, with which "they play after night by sending them, like kites, into the air."[787]

We learn from Captain Stedman, that even in the forests of Guiana, some people make b.u.t.terfly-catching their business, and obtain much money by it. They collect and arrange them in paper boxes, and send them off to the different cabinets of Europe.[788]

b.u.t.terflies are now extensively worn by French and American ladies on their head-dresses.

From the relations of Sir Anthony Shirley, quoted in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy,[789] we learn that the kings of Persia were wont to hawk after b.u.t.terflies with sparrows and stares, or starlings, trained for the purpose; and we are also told that M. de Luisnes (afterward Prime Minister of France), in the nonage of Louis XIII., gained much upon him by making hawks catch little birds, and by making some of those little birds again catch b.u.t.terflies.[790]

In the Zoological Journal, No. 13, it is recorded that at a meeting of the Linnaean Society, March 11, 1832, Mr. Stevens exhibited a remarkable freak of nature in a specimen of _Vanessa urtica_, which possessed five wings, the additional one being formed by a second, but smaller, hinder wing on one side.[791]

J. A. de Mandelsloe, who made a voyage to the East Indies in 1639, tells us that not far from the Fort of Ternate grows a certain shrub, called by the Indians _Catopa_, from which falls a leaf, which, by degrees, is supposed to be metamorphosed into a b.u.t.terfly.[792]

De Pauw tells us that, not long before his time, the French peasants entertained a kind of worship for the chrysalis of the caterpillar found on the great nettle (the pupa of _Vanessa cardui_?), because they fancied that it revealed evident traces of Divinity; and quotes M. Des Landes in saying that the curates had even ornamented the altars with these pupae.[793]

The b.u.t.terfly (Ang. Sax. _b.u.t.tor-fleoge_, or _Buter-flege_) is so named from the common yellow species, or from its appearing in the b.u.t.ter season. Its German names are _Schmetterling_, from _schmetten_, cream; and _Molkendieb_, the Whey-thief. The a.s.sociation with milk in its three forms, in b.u.t.ter, cream, and whey, is remarkable.

The African Bushmen eat the caterpillars of b.u.t.terflies; and the Natives of New Holland eat the caterpillars of a species of Moth, and also a kind of b.u.t.terfly, which they call _Bugong_, which congregates in certain districts, at particular seasons, in countless myriads. On these occasions the native blacks a.s.semble from far and near to collect them; and after removing the wings and down by stirring them on the ground, previously heated by a large fire, winnowing them, eat the bodies, or store them up for use, by pounding and smoking them. The bodies of these b.u.t.terflies abound in oil, and taste like nuts. When first eaten, they produce violent vomitings and other debilitating effects; but these go off after a few days, and the natives then thrive and fatten exceedingly on this diet, for which they have to contend with a black crow, which is also attracted by the b.u.t.terflies, and which they dispatch with their clubs and use also as food.

Another practice in Australia is to follow up the flight of the b.u.t.terflies, and to light fires at nightfall beneath the trees in which they have settled. The smoke brings the insects down, when their bodies are collected and pounded together into a sort of fleshy loaf.[794]

Bennet tells us the larva of a Lepidopterous insect (the _Bugong_?) that destroys the green-wattle (_Acacia decurrens_) is much sought after, and considered a delicacy, by the blacks of Australia. These people eat also the pink grubs found in the wattle-trees, either roasted or uncooked. Europeans, who have tasted of this dish, say it is not disagreeable.[795]

Swammerdam, treating of the metamorphoses of larvae into pupae and thence into perfect insects, makes the following curious comparison: "The worms, after the manner of the brides in Holland, shut themselves up for a time, as it were to prepare, and render themselves more amiable, when they are to meet the other s.e.x in the field of Hymen."[796]

Sphingidae--Hawk-moths.

To the superst.i.tious imaginations of the Europeans, the conspicuous markings on the back of a large evening moth, the _Sphinx Atropos_, represent the human skull, with the thigh-bones crossed beneath; hence is it called the _Death's-head Moth_, the _Death's-head Phantom_, the _Wandering Death-bird_, etc. Its cry,[797] which closely resembles the noise caused by the creaking of cork, or the plaintive squeaking of a mouse, certainly more than enough to frighten the ignorant and superst.i.tious, is considered the voice of anguish, the moaning of a child, the signal of grief; and it is regarded "not as the creation of a benevolent being, but as the device of evil spirits"--spirits, enemies to man, conceived and fabricated in the dark; and the very shining of its eyes is supposed to represent the fiery element whence it is thought to have proceeded. Flying into their apartments in the evening, it at times extinguishes the light, foretelling war, pestilence, famine, and death to man. The sudden appearance of these insects, we are informed by Latrielle, during a season while the people were suffering from an epidemic disease, tended much to confirm the notions of the superst.i.tious in that district, and the disease was attributed by them entirely to their visitation.[798] Jaeger says, at a very recent day, that this large Moth first attracted his "attention during the prevalence of a severe and fatal epidemic, and of course nothing more was necessary than its appearance at such a time to induce an ignorant people to believe it the veritable prophet and forerunner of death. A curate in Bretagne, France," continues this author, "made a most horrible and fear-exciting description of this animal, describing the very loud and dreadful sound which it emitted as a sort of lamentation for the awful calamity which was coming on the earth."[799] Reaumur informs us that all the members of a female convent in France were thrown into the greatest consternation at the appearance of one of these insects, which happened to fly in during the evening at one of the windows of the dormitory.[800]

In the Isle of France, the natives believe that the dust (scales) cast from the wings of the Death's-head Moth, in flying through an apartment, is productive of blindness to the visual organs on which it falls.[801]

There is a quaint superst.i.tion in England that the Death's-head Moth has been very common in Whitehall ever since the martyrdom of Charles I.[802]

Ill.u.s.trative of the tough texture of the skin with which many soft larvae are provided for protection, the following may be instanced: Bonnet squeezed under water the caterpillar of the privet Hawk-moth, _Sphinx ligustris_, till it was as flat and empty as the finger of a glove, yet within an hour it became plump and lively as if nothing had happened.[803]

The name Sphinx is applied to this genus of insects from a fancied resemblance between the att.i.tude a.s.sumed by the larvae of several of the larger species, when disturbed, and that of the Egyptian Sphinx.

Bombicidae--Silk-worm Moths.

The notices of the cultivation of the mulberry and the rearing of Silk-worms, found in Chinese works, have been industriously collected and published by M. Julien, by order of the French government. From his work it appears that credible notices of the culture of the tree and the manufacture of silk are found as far back as B.C. 780; and in referring its invention to the Empress Siling, or Yuenfi, wife of the Emperor Hw.a.n.gti, B.C. 2602 (Du Halde says 2698), the Chinese have shown their belief of its still higher antiquity. The Shi King contains this distich:

The legitimate wife of Hw.a.n.gti, named Siling Shi, began to rear Silk-worms: At this period Hw.a.n.gti invented the art of making clothing.

Du Halde says this invention raised the Empress to the rank of a divinity, under the t.i.tle of Spirit of the Silk-worm, and of the Mulberry-tree.[804]

The Book of Rites contains a notice of the festival held in honor of this art, which corresponds to that of plowing by the emperor. "In the last month of spring, the young empress purified herself and offered sacrifice to the G.o.ddess of Silk-worms. She went into the eastern fields and collected mulberry-leaves. She forbade n.o.ble dames and the ladies of statesmen adorning themselves, and excused her attendants from their sewing and embroidery, in order that they might give all their care to the rearing of Silk-worms."[805]

The manufacture of silk has been known in India from time immemorial, it being mentioned in the oldest Sanscrit books.[806] It is the opinion of modern writers, however, that the culture of the Silk-worm pa.s.sed from China into India, thence through Persia, and then, after the lapse of several centuries, into Europe. But long before this, wrought silk had been introduced into Greece from Persia. This was effected by the army of Alexander the Great, about the year 323 before Christ.

The Greeks fabled silk to have first been woven in the Island of Cos by Pamphila, the daughter of Plateos.[807] Of its true origin they were, in a great measure, ignorant, but seem to have been positive that it was the work of an insect. Pausanias thus describes the animal and its culture: "But the thread, from which the Ceres (an Ethiopian race) make garments, is not produced from a tree, but is procured by the following method: A worm is found in their country which the Greeks call _Seer_, but the Ceres themselves, by a different name. This worm is twice as large as a beetle, and, in other respects, resembles spiders which weave under trees. It has, likewise, eight feet as well as the spider. The Ceres rear these insects in houses adapted for this purpose both to summer and winter. What these insects produce is a slender thread, which is rolled round their feet. They feed them for four years on oatmeal; and on the fifth (for they do not live beyond five years) they give them a green reed to feed on: for this is the sweetest of all food to this insect. It feeds, therefore, on this till it bursts through fullness, and dies: after which, they draw from its bowels a great quant.i.ty of thread."[808]

Aristotle seems to have had a much clearer idea of the origin of silk, for he says it was unwound from the _pupa_ (he does not expressly say the _pupa_, but this we must suppose) of a large horned caterpillar.[809] The _larva_ he means could not, however, be the common Silk-worm, since it is rather small and without horns.