INSECTS IN TUEIR PERFECT STATE. 129 



no sooner is it relieved from this pressure, than 

 the elastic air it contains expands it to its full 

 dimensions, and hence the appearance of what has 

 been supposed a sudden growth. 



On first taking flight, many insects, especially 

 Butterflies and Moths, exude one or more drops of 

 pinkish or sometimes deep crimson fluid, the na- 

 ture of which has not been explained. In certain 

 seasons, insects are known to come forth in vast 

 swarms; and when, in their first flight, flights of 

 this kind drop these crimson globules, an effect 

 similar to that which fancy might picture as a 

 " shower of blood" takes place; a phenomenon 

 which produced in former times the greatest alarm, 

 being deemed an evil omen of the very worst cha- 

 racter, and the circumstance invariably led to prog- 

 nostications of the most alarming description. The 

 ridiculous superstitions attached to this pheno- 

 menon received their coup de grace, however, as 

 long ago as 1608, when Pereist announced his dis- 

 covery that the supposed shower of blood was pro- 

 duced, in a very natural way, by an unusually large 

 flight of Butterflies. The effects attending the emis- 

 sion of this crimson fluid by newly developed Lepi- 

 dopterous insects have also been described by 

 Jurine. 



K 



