BUTTERFLIES IO5 



which grew hourly darker and finally blackish; from it, 

 on August second, there came out an immense butterfly, 

 which, on being irritated, squeaked like a bat. It was 

 of gold color and had black wings, back, and belly. Its 

 head was all black, and from it protruded two black 

 crests ; the eyes were brown and the black proboscis was 

 cartilaginous, and rolled up in front of the mouth in many 

 rings, as is the case with all other butterflies; the six legs 

 in the first section, or shin, attached to the thorax, were 

 all hairy and of dirty gold color ; the other sections were 

 purple ; at the end of every leg there was a nail, claw, or 

 hook, which also appeared in all the articulations of the 

 legs. It lived only six days. 



On the twelfth of July, an oak branch was brought to 

 me, on two leaves of which were spread in good order 

 more than thirty caterpillars covered with white short 

 hairs, and spotted all over the body with divers colors; 

 the head was brown and shiny, and crossed by the letter 

 Y in yellow. All these caterpillars remained motionless 

 and slept peacefully. Then, having placed them in a 

 large box, they shed skins, awoke, and immediately began 

 to devour the oak leaves ; and they continued to feed on 

 these until the 22nd day of the same month, when, having 

 settled down in regular order in a corner of the box, they 

 again went to sleep and slept for two whole days, where- 

 upon having shed their skins again, and having aroused 

 themselves, being now much larger and more hairy, they 

 fell to eating with great voracity and held their own, 

 until the first of August, on which day they suddenly 

 left off eating and became stupid, torpid, and weak ; they 

 appeared to have dwindled in size; all their hairs had 

 dropped off, and they scarcely moved even when touched ; 

 to sum up, they seemed to be depressed or sick, re- 



