350 



INSECT TRANSFOKMATIONS. 



always in the same state as when it issued from the j i 

 chrysalis.* 



c 



a, Vanessa wticcB, with one wing imperfect, b, brown-tail moth. 

 Porthesia aurijlua, with shrivelled wings, c, Vanessa urticce, willi 

 unexpauded wings. 



It is not a httle remarkable, that when insects are 

 evolved from the pupa state, they always discharge 

 some substance. It is important to remark, that the 

 matter voided at this period by many butterflies ( Fa- 

 nesscBy &c.) is of a red colour, resembling blood, while 

 that of several moths is orange or whitish. It could 

 not readily be supposed that this should become the 

 object of superstitious terror, yet so it has been in 

 more instances than one. Mouff'et tells us, from 

 Sleidan, that in the year 1553 a prodigious multitude 

 of butterflies swarmed throughout a great portion of 

 Germany, and sprinkled plants, leaves, buildings, 

 clothes, and men, with bloody drops as if it had rained 

 blood, t Several historians, indeed, have recorded 

 showers of blood among the prodigies which have 

 struck nations with consternation, as the supposed 

 omen of the destruction of cities and the overthrow 

 of empires. About the beginning of July, 1608, one 

 of these showers of blood was supposed to have fallen 

 * J. R. f Mouftet, Theatr. Ins., 107. 



