224 rAPiLioNiD;E — butterflies. 



to have verified it from his own observation. He makes 

 the fon()\vin«!: remarks: "Is it not possible that such red 

 drops might issue from insects, at the time they come fresh 

 from the nymphs, which distil a bloody fluid ? This seems 

 to happen especially when such insects are more than ordi- 

 narily multiplied in any particular year, as we often expe- 

 rience in the butterflies, flies, gnats, and others."^ 



Dust is commonly attributed as the cause of this phe- 

 nomenon, but will satisfactorily explain only a few instances. 

 A writer for Chambers' Journal, in an article on showers of 

 red dust, bloody rain, etc., says : " In October, 1846, a fear- 

 ful and furious hurricane visited Lyon, and the district be- 

 tween that city and Grenoble, during which occurred a fall 

 of blood-rain. A number of drops were caught and pre- 

 served, and when the moisture was evaporated, there was 

 seen the same kind of dust (as fell in showers in Genoa in 

 1846) of a yellowish brown or red color. When placed 

 under the microscope, it exhibited a great proportion of 

 fresh water and marine formations. Phytolytharia were 

 numerous, as also ' neatly-lobed vegetable scales;' which, as 

 Ehrenberg observes, is sufficient to disprove the assertion 

 that the substance is found in the atmosphere itself, and is 

 not of European origin. For the first time, a living organ- 

 ism was met with, the 'Eunota amphyoxis, with its ovaries 

 green, and therefore capable of life.' Here was a solution 

 of the mystery : the dust, mingling with the drops of water 

 falling from the clouds, produced the red rain. Its appear- 

 ance is that of reddened water, and it cannot be called 

 blood-like without exaggeration."^ 



To conclude the history of bloody rain, the following is 

 most appropriate : In 1841, some negroes, in AYilson County, 

 Tennessee, reported that it had rained blood in the tobacco 

 field where they had been at work ; that near noon there 

 was a rattling noise like rain or hail, and drops of blood, 

 as they supposed, fell from a red cloud that was flying over. 

 Prof. Troost, of Nashville, was called upon to explain the 

 phenomenon ; and, after citing many instances of red rain, 

 red snow, and so called showers of blood, he concluded his 

 learned article with this opinion: "A wind might have 



1 Swam. Hist, of Ins., Vt. I. p. 40. 



2 Chamb. Journ., 2d S. xvii. 231. 



