Five typical figures that may be referred to the butterfly or moth occur
on Sikyatki pottery. These figures have in common a triangular body which
suggests a highly conventionalized picture of a bird. Their wings are, as
a rule, extended horizontally, assuming the attitude of moths while at
rest, there being only one of the five examples where wings are folded
above the back, the normal position of these organs in a butterfly. With
one exception, all these conventional butterfly figures bear two curved
rows of dots on the head, probably intended to represent antennæ.
[Illustration: FIG. 79.—Butterfly and flower.]
The figure of a moth in figure 79 has a body of triangular form, and the
extremities of the wings are shown on each side of a medially placed
backward-extending projection, which is the posterior end of the
abdomen. These wings bear white dots on their posterior edges suggesting
the markings on certain genera of butterflies.[29] There arises from the
head, which here is circular, a single jointed appendage curved at the
end, possibly the antenna, and an unjointed appendage, like a proboscis,
inserted into a figure of a flower, mounted on a stalk that terminates
at the other extremity in five parallel extensions or roots. A row of
dots about the periphery of the flower suggests petals. The figures are
accompanied by crosses representing stars.
The second moth design (fig. 80) has even a closer resemblance to a bird
than the last, for it also has a single antenna or row of dots connected
by a curved line. It likewise has several curved lines resembling a crest
of feathers on top of the head, and lines recalling the tail of a bird.
The head this figure bears is a cross suggesting a female butterfly or
moth.[30]
[Illustration: FIG. 80.—Butterfly with extended proboscis.]
[Illustration: FIG. 81.—Highly conventionalized butterfly.]
The body in figure 81 is crossed by five lines converging at one angle,
imparting to it the appearance of having been formed by a union of
several spherical triangles on each of which appear rectangular spaces
painted black. A head is not differentiated from the body, but at the
point of union of the five lines above mentioned there arise two rows of
dots which have the form of circles, each inclosing a dot. From analogy
these are supposed to represent antennæ. The middle of wing-shaped
extensions recalling butterfly designs are marked by circular figures
in figure 82, but the absence in this figure of a head with jointed
appendages renders it doubtful whether it represents an insect. The shape
of the body and its appendages resembling feathers indicate, so far as
they go, that this design represents some bird.
It will be noted that in one of the above-mentioned figures, identified
as a moth, flowers are indicated by dotted circles, while in another
similar circle, figures, also surrounded with dots, are represented on
the wings. One pair of wings is represented in the last-mentioned figure,
but a second pair placed behind the larger may have been confounded with
the tail feathers. In one of these figures from Sikyatki there is a row
of dots around the margin of the wings—a common but not universal feature
in modern pictures of butterfly figures. None of the butterfly figures
have representations of legs, which is not strange considering how
inconspicuous these appendages are among these insects.
[Illustration: FIG. 82.—Moth.]
[Illustration: FIG. 83.—Moth.]
A most striking figure of a butterfly is represented by six drawings
on the so-called “butterfly vase” (fig. 83). These, like the
above-mentioned, resemble birds, but they all have antennæ, which
identify them as insects. These six figures (pl. 90) are supposed to
be connected with the six cardinal points which in modern Hopi belief
have sex—the butterfly corresponding to the north, male; to the west,
female; to the south, male; to the east, female; to the above, male; and
to the below, female. The wings of all these insects are represented as
extended, the anterior pair extending far beyond the posterior, while
both have a uniform color and are without marginal dots. The appendages
to the head are two curved rows of dots representing antennæ, and two
parallel lines are the mouth parts or possibly the proboscis. The
markings on the bodies and the terminal parallel lines are like tail
feathers of birds. The heads of three figures, instead of having diagonal
lines, are covered with a crosshatching, _b_, _b_, _b_, and are supposed
to represent the males, as the former, _a_, _a_, _a_, are females.[31]
[Illustration: FIG. 84.—Moth of geometrical form.]
[Illustration: FIG. 85.—Geometrical form of moth.]
[Illustration: FIG. 86.—Highly conventionalized butterfly.]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.—Geometrical form of moth.]
A moth with a conventionalized geometric form is represented in
figure 84 with outstretched wings, a rounded abdomen, and a spotted
rectangular body recalling designs on the upper embroidered margin of
modern ceremonial blankets. A like figure has been elsewhere described
by the author as a butterfly.[32] It occurs on the stone slab which
once formed one side of an Awatobi altar.[33] We have more complicated
forms of butterflies represented in figures 85-87, the identification
of which is even more doubtful than the last. Figure 86 reproduces in
its several parts figure 85, being composed of a central design, around
which are arranged six triangles, one of the last being placed above,
another below, the main figure, and there are two on each side. The
design, figure 88, is circular, the alternately colored quadrants forming
two hourglass combinations. The double triangle, shown in figure 84,
resembles a butterfly symbol, having a close likeness to a figure of this
insect found on the Awatobi tablet above mentioned. This figure also
resembles triangular designs painted on the walls of modern Hopi rooms
and in cliff-dwellings (Cliff Palace). These figures present very remote
likenesses to butterfly symbols and their identification as such is
difficult.