De Pauw tells us that, not long before his time, the French peasants entertained a kind of worship for the chrysalis of the caterpillar found on the great nettle (the pupa of Vanessa cardui?), because they fancied that it revealed evident traces of Divinity; and quotes M. Des Landes in
saying that the curates had even ornamented the altars with these pupæ.[793]
The Butterfly (Ang. Sax. Buttor-fleoge, or Buter-flege) is so named from the common yellow species, or from its appearing in the butter season. Its German names are Schmetterling, from schmetten, cream; and Molkendieb, the Whey-thief. The association with milk in its three forms, in butter, cream, and whey, is remarkable.
The African Bushmen eat the caterpillars of Butterflies; and the Natives of New Holland eat the caterpillars of a species of Moth, and also a kind of Butterfly, which they call Bugong, which congregates in certain districts, at particular seasons, in countless myriads. On these occasions the native blacks assemble from far and near to collect them; and after removing the wings and down by stirring them on the ground, previously heated by a large fire, winnowing them, eat the bodies, or store them up for use, by pounding and smoking them. The bodies of these Butterflies abound in oil, and taste like nuts. When first eaten, they produce violent vomitings and other debilitating effects; but these go off after a few days, and the natives then thrive and fatten exceedingly on this diet, for which they have to contend with a black crow, which is also attracted by the Butterflies, and which they dispatch with their clubs and use also as food.
Another practice in Australia is to follow up the flight of the Butterflies, and to light fires at nightfall beneath the trees in which they have settled. The smoke brings the insects down, when their bodies are collected and pounded together into a sort of fleshy loaf.[794]
Bennet tells us the larva of a Lepidopterous insect (the Bugong?) that destroys the green-wattle (Acacia decurrens) is much sought after, and considered a delicacy, by the blacks of Australia. These people eat also the pink grubs found in the wattle-trees, either roasted or uncooked. Europeans, who have tasted of this dish, say it is not disagreeable.[795]
Swammerdam, treating of the metamorphoses of larvæ into pupæ and thence into perfect insects, makes the following
curious comparison: “The worms, after the manner of the brides in Holland, shut themselves up for a time, as it were to prepare, and render themselves more amiable, when they are to meet the other sex in the field of Hymen.”[796]
Sphingidæ—Hawk-moths.
To the superstitious imaginations of the Europeans, the conspicuous markings on the back of a large evening moth, the Sphinx Atropos, represent the human skull, with the thigh-bones crossed beneath; hence is it called the Death’s-head Moth, the Death’s-head Phantom, the Wandering Death-bird, etc. Its cry,[797] which closely resembles the noise caused by the creaking of cork, or the plaintive squeaking of a mouse, certainly more than enough to frighten the ignorant and superstitious, is considered the voice of anguish, the moaning of a child, the signal of grief; and it is regarded “not as the creation of a benevolent being, but as the device