BUTTERFLIES 141 



If the hornets pay attention to the person of the 

 collector, the ants devote themselves to looking after his 

 collections ; so that, what vi^ith having to dodge a being with 

 wings and a sting who means business when he has made 

 his mind up, and trying to devise ways for keeping his 

 property out of the way of an insect that can find a grain 

 of sugar in a stack of hay, the amateur naturalist acquires 

 his first real knowledge of the powers of those so-called 

 lower forms of life. 



The yards near the houses are usually in a filthy con- 

 dition, owing to the number of domestic animals which 

 are allowed to roam about the place. At La Prision the 

 cows and calves were tied to a tree close to the kitchen 

 during the night, so that they might not wander into the 

 forest and get lost. The pigs had the run of the house, 

 and as they belonged to the breed known in the States as 

 razor-backs and had to forage for themselves, we were 

 being perpetually reminded of their existence by the 

 destruction of our boots, hats, and such unlikely articles 

 of food ; but nothing comes amiss to the razor-back. 

 The united efforts of these quadrupeds, and of the turkeys, 

 fowls, and ducks composing this domestic menagerie had 

 imparted to the place a very pronounced smell suggestive 

 of a pigsty and stable-yard combined. We did not find 

 this smell agreeable, but it was otherwise with many 

 gorgeous butterflies, for whom it appeared to be as myrrh 

 and frankincense. Anyone acquainted with the habits of 

 the Lepidoptera cannot have failed to observe how many 

 kinds of butterflies will persist in returning to, and alight- 

 ing on, some particular spot, although repeatedly disturbed. 

 These butterflies are, at times, so engrossed by their 

 attempts to secure places on the locality of their selection, 

 which is usually of but small extent, that the whole batch. 



