About the Cover…

October Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

Betsy Cross

On a visit to the San Marcos Discovery Center last October, I encountered a gathering of butterflies nectaring on a small patch of blooming plants. In less than 15 minutes, I photographed over eight different species of butterflies.

What does one call such a spectacle? A flutter, a flock, a flight?

When you search for this, there is no single universally accepted scientific term. Instead, you find terms such as flutter, flight, swarm, rabble, rainbow, and wing. But once you have a “flight” of butterflies large enough to form a noticeable display of fluttering wings, with the visual effect of dynamic, multicolored patterns, the term kaleidoscope is suggested.

The word kaleidoscope originally refers to an optical instrument that displays changing, symmetrical patterns of colors by reflecting bits of colored glass or other materials inside mirrors. When you apply that image to a group of butterflies, it suggests that their wings, colors, and patterns blend and shift in motion, much like the visual show inside a kaleidoscope.

So there we have it. The most vivid and widely appreciated metaphor for a gathering of butterflies (perhaps a dozen or more) that captures this aesthetic experience is a kaleidoscope—a kaleidoscope of butterflies.

Insects That Could Star in a Horror Movie

Monday, Monday…