One species was very handsome, having
wings adorned with patches of bright green and scarlet. It was
very common-- sometimes three or four tenanting a single tree,
clinging as usual to the branches. On approaching a tree thus
peopled, a number of little jets of a clear liquid would be seen
squirted from aloft. I have often received the well-directed
discharge full on my face; but the liquid is harmless, having a
sweetish taste, and is ejected by the insect from the anus,
probably in self-defence, or from fear. The number and variety of
gaily-tinted butterflies, sporting about in this grove on sunny
days, were so great that the bright moving flakes of colour gave
quite a character to the physiognomy of the place. It was
impossible to walk far without disturbing flocks of them from the
damp sand at the edge of the water, where they congregated to
imbibe the moisture. They were of almost all colours, sizes, and
shapes: I noticed here altogether eighty species, belonging to
twenty-two different genera.
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