180 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



from mere habit ; the habit of an observer always on the 

 alert for what may happen. 



I was richly rewarded. About nine o'clock that 

 evening, when the household was going to bed, there 

 was a sudden hubbub in the room next to mine. Little 

 Paul, half undressed, was rushing to and fro, running, 

 jumping, stamping, and overturning the chairs as if 

 possessed. I heard him call me. " Come quick ! " he 

 shrieked ; " come and see these butterflies ! Big as 

 birds ! The room's full of them ! " 



I ran. There was that which justified the child's 

 enthusiasm and his hardly hyperbolical exclamation. It 

 was an invasion of giant butterflies ; an invasion hitherto 

 unexampled in our house. Four were already caught 

 and placed in a bird-cage. Others — numbers of them — 

 were flying across the ceiling. 



This astonishing sight recalled the prisoner of the 

 morning to my mind. " Put on your togs, kiddy ! " I 

 told my son ; ^^ put down your cage, and come with me. 

 We shall see something worth seeing." 



We had to go downstairs to reach my study, which 

 occupies the right wing of the house. In the kitchen we 

 met the servant ; she too was bewildered by the state of 

 affairs. She was pursuing the huge butterflies with her 

 apron, having taken them at first for bats. 



It seemed as though the Great Peacock had taken 

 possession of my whole house, more or less. What 

 would it be upstairs, where the prisoner was, the cause of 

 this invasion ? Happily one of the two study windows 

 had been left ajar ; the road was open. 



Candle in hand, we entered the room. What we saw 

 is unforgettable. With a soft fiic-flac the great night-moths 



