THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 137 



the butterflies which were then showing themselves in 

 great numbers, he was perfectly astonished to see a stain 

 of scarlet-red at the spot where the metamorphosis had 

 taken place ! 



The philosopher had discovered the cause of the won- 

 drous rains which had struck so many people with stupor. 

 Many butterflies, indeed, a few moments after they issue 

 from their chrysalis swathing-clothes, expel a thick colored 

 fluid which has accumulated in the intestine during their 

 seclusion. It is of a bright red in certain diurnal Lepi- 

 doptera, in particular the Vanessse, and especially among 

 them the great tortoise-shell, to which Reaumur principally 

 ascribes the occurrence. 



M. de Peirese farther made out that the shower of blood 

 at Aix had been accompanied by a prodigious swarm of 

 butterflies, of the same species as the one that he had shut 

 up in the box; and in the " Encyclopedic" it is said that 

 his conjectures were confirmed by their not finding any 

 spots on the roofs, but only on the lower stories of the 

 houses, the places which the butterflies choose for their 

 metamorphoses. 1 



CHAPTER III. 



THE INTELLIGENCE OF INSECTS. 



Descartes, who paid little attention to insects, only saw 

 in them ingenious machines, living automatons, wound up 



1 The Encyclopedic of Diderot contains a very good article on these showers 

 of blood. 



