Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Vanessa
Van·es′sa (văn·ĕs′sȧ), n. [Probably from Swift's poem of Cadenus and Vanessa. See Vanessa, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.] (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to Vanessa and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped.