The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1898-10-01
INSECTS LOVE DRINK.
BLUE BUTTERFLIES NOTORIOUS
FOR THEIR CAPACITY.

.
Males Particularly 0uilty-yvhile Water
L. the Us1sl Liquid 1.aulxed In the
TOpsrs Are Not Particular About Its
~Q.ensy.
Butterflies have never had a char
acter for wisdom or foresight. Indeed.
they have been made a type of frivolity
and now something worse is laid to
their charge. In q paper published by
tho South London chronological So
ciety Mr.. J. w. Tut declares that some
species are painfully addicted to drink
ing, declares the London Standard.
This beverage it may be pleaded, is
only water. but It ia possible to be
overabsOrptive of nonalcoholtcs. Ex-
cess in tea is not unknown-perhaps
the great DR.. johnson occasionally
offended In that respect-and even the
pump may be too often visited. But
the accuser states that some butter
dies drink more than can be required
by their tissues under any possible
conditions. 1t would not have been
surprising II. like some other insects.
butterflies had been almost total alb
stainers. at any rate. from water. and
had contented themselves with an oc-
casional sip Of nectar from a flower.
Is too precise to be shirked. Mr.. Tut
has been watching q certain butterfly
Ono of the "blues," which rejoices in
the name polyommatus. A member
of this genus has been seen to sit for
more than an hour motionless. except
for the slight movement caused by the
almost continuous sucking up of the
fluid. What can be the purpose of this
hydropathic treatment? We are not
aware that butterflies suffer from govt
or rheumatism or diseases Of the d.
gestive organs: indeed, it can hardly
be sanitary process. for Mr.. Tut re-
cords another curious observation.
The excess in drinking seems to be
almost a masculine characteristic. for
the topers. he states. are the males.
They imbi3e while the females are
busy laying eggs. This unequal divis-
ion of pleasure and labor is not wholly
unknown even among the highest of
the vetebrates: we have heard of cases
where the male was topping at the
public" while the female was nursing
the children and doing the drudgery
OF the household. Mr.. Tut has called
attention to a painful exhibition of de-
pravtty which can often be observed
in an English country lane. where
shallow puddles are common, but
never so we'll as on one of the rough
paths that wind over the upper pas
lures in the Alps. Butterflies are more
abundant there than in England, and
they may be seen in dozens absorbing
the moisture from damp patches. Most
species are not above taking a sip now
and again, but the majority may be
classed as moderate drinkers" The
greater sinners are the smaller ones,
especially the blues. and the little but
tcrf'y which. from its appearance, is
called the small copper" There
they sit. glued as it were to the mud
go besotted, such victims to intcmper-
ance. that they will not rise till the
last moment to get out OF the way Of
horse or man. Some thirty years ago
Prof. Bouney. in his alpine Regions
described this popularity. saying that
they were apparently SO stuPe1ed
that they could scarcely be induced
to take wing-in fact. they were
drunk"
If we remember rightly, the female
occasionally is overcome by the temp
tation to which her mate SO readily
falls a victim. But we are by no
means sure that butterflies are drink
ers of water only. Certainly they are
not particular about its purity; they
will swallow 1t in a condition which
would make a sanitarian shUddcr: nay
we fear that a not inconsiderab!e adj
mixture OF ammon1acal sa Its Increases
the attraction of the beverage 1t is
admitted that both moths and butter
flies visit sugar. overripe fruit and the
like, but 1t is pleaded that they do this
for food. Perhaps; but we fear this
is not the whole truth. The apologist
has forgotten that practice of ento-
mologists called ''sugaring," which is
daubing trunks of trees and other
suitable places with mixture of
which, no doubt, sugar is the main in
gredient, but of WI, fch the attraction
is enhanced by a little rum. Every
collector knows what 4 deadly lure
this is and what treasures the dark
lantern reveals as he goes his rounds.
True, this snare is fatal only to the
moth, because at nigh: the butterfly
is asleep. If he once adopted noe
turnal habits we know where he would
be found. for he is not insensible by
DAY to the charms OF this mixture
But the idea OF a butterfly getting
= l. 1t,