BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 133 



OEDEE LEPIDOPTERA. 



[As I have already treated of European Butterflies and Moths 

 in a separate work, the present article is devoted chiefly to foreign 

 species.] 



Wings four, clothed with scales ; metamorphoses complete ; 

 larva maudibulate, most frequently with from ten to sixteen legs ; 

 pupa inactive, often enclosed in a cocoon ; imago haustellate. 



Butterflies and Moths have always been very favourite insects, 

 not only with entomologists, but with all dwellers in the country, 

 or lovers of Nature. They cannot easily be confused with any 

 other Order than that to which they belong, except in a few 

 instances in which Caddis-flies somewhat resemble small moths, or 

 some of the clear-winged moths resemble Diptera or Hymenoptera. 



The bright colours of these insects are due entirely to the 

 scales with which their wings are covered, and which are doubtless 

 metamorphosed hairs. When this clotuing, which is more or less 

 dense, is removed, we find a colourless membrane beneath, tra- 

 versed by branching veins, as in other insects. 



The distinction between Butterfl^ies and Moths is purely arti- 

 ficial, and is more sharply emphasised in English by the use of 

 separate words than in other languages. Thus the French and 

 Germans generally use the words Fapillon and Schmctterling, 

 which correspond to Lepidoptera in general, and instead of using 

 distinct words, use expressions corresponding to Day-Butterflies 

 and Night-Butterflies. Still, the term Butterflies is conveniently 

 employed to include the first five families of Lepidoptera, the fifth 

 of which, the Ilesperiidce; is so widely separated from all the true 

 Butterflies on the one hand, and from all the true Moths on the 

 other, that there is little real danger of a butterfly being mistaken 

 for a moth, or vice versa, by any one at all acquainted with the 

 subject, though those who proceed on the axiom that a butterfly 

 is a brightly-coloured insect with a slender body, and a moth a 

 dull-coloured insect with a thick body, will fall into many mis- 

 takes. 



