102 



THE UNIVERSE. 



rifle the flowers of our gardens. They flit from one to the 

 other with the speed of an arrow, and, like the humming- 

 birds, they hang motionless before the corolla, plunging 

 their long tongues to the bottom in order to sip the nectar, 

 whilst their wings are agitated by movements which the 

 eye cannot follow ! 



The delicacy of these aerial oars is not less remarkable 

 than their movements. 



However gently we take hold of the wing of a butterfly, 

 our fingers never leave it without having some particles 

 adhering, which seem only a fine dust, the source of the 





47. Scales from the Wings of different Butterflies, seen with the microscope. 



magnificent coloring of the insect. But when this dust is 

 submitted to microscopic examination, the observer is sur- 

 prised to see that each of these grains represents a little 

 flattened plate, lengthened out and of a delicate and com- 

 plicated structure, which reflects the most magical colors. 

 One of its extremities is generally toothed more or less 

 deeply, whilst the other displays only a little pedicle, by 

 which each imperceptible scale is attached to the trans- 

 parent membrane of the wing. 



