MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 17.j 



IV. Order. Lepidoptera. Moths and Butterflies. 



We now approach the most beautiful, and to the 

 generality of people, the most interesting department 

 of Entomology. The splendor and variety of the In- 

 sects of this'order, has never failed to attract attention, 

 and with all lovers of Nature nothing more readily 

 or more universally excites the mingled emotions of 

 pleasure and astonishment, than the careful examina- 

 tion of a rich collection of Moths and Butterflies. At 

 the sight of these, all seem to feel and confess, that 

 " varietas delectat," variety is charming. The endless 

 diversification of colors, which are distributed in dif- 

 ferent forms upon the bodies and wings of Lepidopte- 

 rous insects, and even upon the bodies of caterpillars, 

 some in lines, others in circles, or eyes, or hieroplyph- 

 ics, or letters, and all in even varying shape and hue, 

 cannot fail to excite our admiration, and impress up- 

 on us the conviction, that even the most diminutive 

 creations bear the same stamp of pleasing and infinite 

 variety, which pervades the universe. Of all the glit- 

 tering orbs that roll in endless space, probably no two 

 are alike in form, or substance, or living contents. So 

 of all the myriads of living creatures with which the 

 earth has swarmed since the animating spirit first 

 breathed upon chaos, no two can be said to be pre- 

 precisely alike ; but on the contrary, so inevitable is 



