134 INTELLIGENCE IN BUTTERFLIES. 



motions are too swift for the eye. Often the little Grapta 

 comma will follow a much, larger butterfly, perhaps the 

 Aphrodite or Idalia, now under, now over it, in swift 

 zig-zag movements, as if enjoying it hugely, while re- 

 ceiving no attention from the larger specimen. Some- 

 times the Grapta will pursue, as if in sport, a beetle or 

 a wasp, — -in such cases keeping a good distance away, 

 but continuing the pursuit for some rods. 



Once I saw a Grapta and an Alope rising high in the 

 air together, going over and over each other in sportive 

 mood, when a pewee bird shot swiftly upon the Alope, 

 and bore it off. The little Grapta folded its wings back 

 to back, and in half the time I am taking to tell it, lite- 

 erally dropped to within two or three feet of the ground, 

 recovered its wing and then hid in a thick evergreen tree 

 close by. On following it, it seemed unhurt, but greatly 

 alarmed, ceaselessly changing its position from limb to 

 limb, and finally getting under a large limb, and remain- 

 ing very nearly motionless. On another occasion, how- 

 ever, a bird seized a Ttirnus, breaking a portion of its 

 anterior wing, but the butterfly exhibited no alarm and 

 continued steadily on its way, minus a bit of wing. It 

 evidently did not appreciate the fact that it had very 

 nearly lost its life, or else it held life much more cheaply 

 than the ordinary animal. 



But the greatest manifestation of fun and frolic was 

 in a group of Alopes, some thirty in number, clustered 

 under a tree in the shade. Such wild gambols on the 

 wing I never saw, often in one compact cluster, wings 

 and legs and antennas in a confused jumble, then off in 

 pairs, then in two crowds, with all the marks of "mirth 

 and jocund din." Such scenes do certainly appear like 

 an intelligent appreciation of fun, as they clearly have 

 no reference to any necessary functions of body, and 

 seem intended only for gratification. 



One other class of facts would demand our attention, 



86 



