4J2 THE BUTTERFLT. 



The quantity of food taken by thefe animals in tlieii' 

 laft flate, is comparatively fmall to what they formerly^ 

 devoured. For a fhort time after their appearance on the 

 ■wing, their excrements are voided in a greater quantity, 

 and red like blood ; this is, perhaps, the remains of that 

 food, which they contained befbre their laft change. Its 

 appearance on the furface of the earth, has at different 

 times been regarded as portentous of fome heavy cala- 

 miry, being fuppofed to be blood that haddropt from the 

 clouds *. 



Some of thefe animals are gregarious, and live in foci- 

 ety during every ftage of their exiftence ; others live in 

 that ftate during one period of their lives only. The du- 

 ration of their life is various according to the weather ; 

 its warmth accelerates every flep of their progrefs, and 

 cold i-etards all their developements : A worm produced 

 in a certain period of the fummcr lives only for three 

 months, while the fame fpecies, if hatched a little later 

 in the feafon, lives another year ; hence, Reaumur, has 

 devifed a method of prolonging the lives of thefe animals 

 greatly beyond their natural courle. f . 



The butterflies of every fpecies are extremely prolific 5 

 a fingle female at one birth produces feveral hundred 

 eggs: and the mofl wonderful particular in the hiftory of 

 thefe infedls,' is the precautions by which they provide 

 for the fecurity of the young ; fome tear off the down 

 from their own bodies to fupply them with a cover- 

 ing t- 



Various 



* "Vie de M. Pierefe par M. Gaffendi, 



•}• Tom. II. mem. I. 



\ Reaumur, Tome II. mem. 2. 



