IN OUR BUTTERFLIES 123 



lias been to toss my cap high in the air, when these 

 butterflies will often dart, dash at, and play around 

 it as it begins again to descend. DeGarmo has 

 noticed this characteristic, as witness the following 

 passage : — 



" One of the most curious features of a butterfly's life 

 is its si30vtive or playful moods and ways. It was some 

 time before I appreciated the fact that they indulged in 

 such moods at all. Seeing them start vigorously after 

 other insects on the wing, I assumed without investiga- 

 tion that these were movements in self-defense, till all 

 the facts pointed to them as movements in play. This 

 opened a new and interesting field of observation. The 

 spirit of playfulness I found to prevail more towards 

 sundown than in the morning. Only a very few times 

 have I seen any signs of it in the morning and never in 

 the absence of sunshine. I found it far more common 

 among the highly developed four-footed butterflies, as 

 the Graptas, Vanessas, etc., than among the six-footed 

 Papilios. . . . The greatest manifestation of fun and 

 frolic was in a group of alopes, some thirty in number, 

 clustered under a tree in the shade. Such wild gam- 

 bols on the wing I never saw, often in one compact 

 cluster, wings and legs and antennae in a confused 

 jumble, then off in pairs, then in two crowds, with all 

 the marks of 'mirth and jocund din.' Such scenes do 

 certainly appear like an intelligent appreciation of 

 fun, as they clearly have no reference to any necessary 



