372 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



it of much of its beauty ; and, unless captured soon 

 after its birth, we find the margins of its wings torn 

 and jagged, the elegant blue plumage rubbed from the 

 wings, and the creature become dark and shabby."* 



We are of opinion, on the other hand, that these 

 butterfly skirmishings are not prompted by testiness 

 nor jealousy, but by the spirit of gaiety and frolic — 

 the buoyant feelings arising from the air expanded 

 in their wings and bodies by the warm sunshine, 

 causing the living principle to increase even to exu- 

 berance. Were these, indeed, actual combats among 

 the males, like those which take place among game- 

 cocks or ruffs (Tringa pugnax, Linn.), nature 

 would probably have furnished them with weapons 

 suited to such warfare. But butterflies have neither 

 spurs, claws, nor sharp bills, wherewith to assail an 

 enemy ; and though they might flap one another with 

 their wings, till their tiny feathers flew about like a 

 snow-shower, yet we have never observed them do 

 so, as Mr. Knapp's description seems to imply. On 

 the contrary, they appear actually to take care that 

 such an accident should not occur while they frisk 

 about one another, rising, falling, and performing 

 zigzag pirouettes in the air, as we see kittens or 

 puppies do on the ground, in their more clumsy but 

 no less frolicksome gambols. Did these skirmishes, 

 besides, originate in rivalry or jealousy, we should 

 always see the butterflies combating in couples, for we 

 never see two or three game-cocks set upon an in- 

 dividual ; but it is by no means uncommon to see three, 

 and we have observed as many as five butterflies, all 

 equally engaged in these supposed battles, and each 

 bouncnig and popping indiscriminately at the others 

 without ever coming to blows. It seldom happens 

 that they actually touch one another, however long 

 they may be at play, — a circumstance which of itself 

 is sufficient to prove our position. 



* Jouin, of a Natiualist, p. 277. 



