108 THE NATURALIST IX NICARAGUA. [Ch. VII. 



space had been cleared, much of which was covered with 

 grass. After descending a steep hill, the Artigua, with 

 its muddy water, was crossed. Plere, in the dry season, 

 in the hot afternoons, the wet sandy banks were the 

 favourite resorts of multitudes of butterflies, that gathered 

 in great masses on particular moist spots in such num- 

 bers that with one swoop of my net I have enclosed 

 more than thirty in its gauzy folds. These butterflies 

 were principally different species of Cattidryas, yellow 

 and white, mixed with brown and red species of Timetes, 

 which, when disturbed, rose in a body and circled about; 

 on the ground, looking like a bouquet ; when rising, like 

 a fountain of flowers. In groups, by themselves, would 

 be five or six specimens of yellow and black Papilios, 

 greedily sucking up the moisture, and vibrating their 

 wings, now and then taking short flights and settling 

 again to drink. Hesperidaa, too, abounded ; and in a 

 favourable afternoon more than twenty different species 

 of butterflies might be taken at these spots, the finest 

 being a lovely white, green, and black swallow-tailed 

 Papilio, the first capture of which filled me with 

 delight. Near the river were some fallen-down wooden 

 sheds, partly overgrown with a red-flowered vine. Here 

 a large spider (Nephila) built strong yellow silken webs, 

 joined one on to the other, so as to make a complete 

 curtain of web, in which were entangled many large 

 butterflies, generally forest species, caught when flying 

 across the clearing. I was at first surprised to find that 

 the kinds that frequent open places were not caught, 

 although they abounded on low white-flowered shrubs, 

 close to the webs ; but, on getting behind them, 

 and trying to frighten them within the silken curtain, 



