298 THE PAPILIONINA, OR BUTTERFLIES. 



in their appearance, although not to so great an 

 extent as the Camberwell Beauty ; some of the com- 

 mon species, such as the Painted Lady (Cynthia 

 Cardui) especially, although generally to he met with, 

 coming forth at times in vast swarms, without any 

 apparent cause. This phenomenon has heen, indi- 

 rectly at all events, the cause of no small alarm in 

 more superstitious ages ; for these insects, just before 

 rising for their first flight, emit a small drop of a red 

 fluid ; and thus, when a great numher of the Butter- 

 flies have emerged from the chrysalis at the same 

 time, red spots have been seen upon all sorts of 

 objects over a large district, giving rise to the nume- 

 rous stories of blood-rains, which were regarded as 

 the portents of some sad disaster. 



The caterpillars of several of these species are also 

 gregarious when young, although as they increase in 

 size they generally disperse, so as to obtain a more 

 abundant supply of nourishment. The caterpillars 

 of some of the Fritillaries (Melitaa Cinxia and M. 

 Artemis)) however, go far beyond this in their social 

 habits, living together in families, sometimes of 

 nearly a hundred individuals, under the protection of 

 a sort of silken tent, which they weave over the com- 

 mon scabious and the different species of plantain, 

 upon the leaves of which they feed. They are no- 

 madic in their habits, shifting their quarters from 

 one patch of plantain to another as they consume 

 the leaves, and pitching their tents afresh over the 

 new supply of food ; at the approach of winter they 

 weave a covering of a stronger nature, and pass the 

 inclement season under this, with their bodies coiled 

 up and lying in a heap one upon another. In the 

 spring the society is dissolved, each caterpillar going 



