196 THE SLEEPING HOMES OF ANIMALS 



cation of butterfly memory was occasioned by the 

 regularity with which a small butterfly named Precis 

 Iphita returned to sleep in a veranda of a musical club 

 at Manghasar, in the Dutch East India Islands. Mr. C. 

 Piepers, a member of the Dutch Entomological Society, 

 noticed that this butterfly returned to the same place on 

 the ceiling during the evening. In the day it was 

 absent, but at nightfall, in spite of the brilliant illumina- 

 tion of the veranda, it was again sleeping in the same 

 spot. * It was not to be found in the daytime, being 

 probably absent on business,' writes Mr. Piepers ; ' but 

 as civilization has not advanced so far in Manghasar 

 that it is there considered necessary to drive away every 

 harmless creature which ventures into a human dwelling, 

 I had the pleasure of admiring the memory of this 

 butterfly for six consecutive nights. Then some 

 accident probably befell it, for I never saw any trace 

 of it again.' 



It is difficult to imagine a spot with less domestic 

 features to adorn the home than a piece of the bare 

 ceiling of a tropical veranda ; but the attachment of 

 animals to their chosen sleeping-place must rest on 

 some preference quite clear to their own consciousness, 

 though not evident to us. In some instances the 

 ground of choice is intelligible. Many of the small 

 blue British butterflies have grayish spotted backs to 

 their wings. At night they fly regularly to sheltered 



