The Life-History and Anatomy of Butterflies 
efficient in the case of many of the small species when they are 
still fresh; in the case of the larger species the scales may be re¬ 
moved by means of a camefs-hair pencil such as is used by paint 
ers. The chemical method of bleaching wings is simple and inex¬ 
pensive. For this purpose the wing should be dipped in alcohol 
and then placed in a vessel containing a bleaching solution of some 
sort. The best agent is a solution of chloride of lime. After the 
color has been removed from the wing by the action of the 
chloride it should be washed in a weak solution of hydrochloric 
acid. It may then be cleansed in pure water and mounted upon 
a piece of glass, as microscopic slides are mounted, and thus pre¬ 
served. When thus bleached the wing is capable of being mi¬ 
nutely studied, and all points of its anatomy are brought clearly 
into view. 
The veins in both the fore and hind wings of butterflies 
may be divided into simple and 
compound veins. In the fore 
wing the simple veins are the 
costal, the radial, and the subme¬ 
dian; in the hind wing, the cos¬ 
tal, the subcostal, the upper and 
lower radial, the submedian, and 
the internal are simple. The 
Fig. 39.—Arrangement of scales 
on wing of butterfly. 
costal vein in the hind wing is, however, generally provided near 
the base with a short ascending branch which is known as the 
precostal vein. In addition to these simple veins there are in the 
fore wing two branching veins, one immediately following the 
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