LEPIDOPTERA. 1 7 1 



which is to" nourish her progeny. The colour is also very various, 

 and passes through all sorts of shades. At the moment they are 

 laid, many are covered with a gummy substance, insoluble in water, 

 which serves to stick them on the plant. 



In some species the mother lays her eggs on the trunks of trees, 

 and covers them with down or with the hairs which clothe her 

 abdomen, so as to preserve them from cold and damp. She may 

 also hide them entirely under a v/hitish foamy substance. Some do 

 not lay more than a hundred eggs ; others lay some thousands. 



To bring the history of the Lepidoptera to an end, it only remains 

 for us to give a sketch of their classification, and to point out some 

 species remarkable, either on account of their beauty or their utility. 

 We see during the day butterflies flying in our gardens, in mea- 

 dows full of flowers, or in the alleys of woods. Towards evening, 

 at the sombre hour of twilight, the stroller is sometimes surprised to 

 see pass near him large moths, with a heavy and unequal flight ; or, 

 if we go into a garden on a beautiful calm summer's night, bearing a 

 a light, we see a crowd of moths flying from all parts towards it. 

 It is on account of these different hours at which the Lepidoptera 

 ; show themselves, that naturalists for a long time divided them into 

 p diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal. This division was simple, con- 

 i ;venient, and seemed founded on Nature. Unfortunately, the night 

 : .fliers of the old authors do not all fly by night : some species, classed 

 by the old naturalists among the crepuscular, or nocturnal, show 

 - themselves in the very middle of the day, seeking their food in the 

 : ihottest rays of the sun. In the regions near the poles they appear 

 ■ during the day, and in other countries they are more or less friends 

 1^. pi the twilight. 



ji ' So as not to multiply methodical divisions, we will confine our- 

 \ 'pelves to classing the Lepidoptera into two sections. 

 ^ I The first section contains thos,^ which Jiy during the day,7vhich 

 ^ have club-shaped afiten?tce, a?id which have their four wings entirely 

 .5- free, a?td standing perpendicularly "' luhen the insect is at rest. They 

 .,'; ,are called Butterflies, or Rhopalocera. This section is divided into a 

 ■J, ipumber of families, which comprise many genera. We will content 

 (j; i,ourselves with calling the attention of the reader to some of the most 

 remarkable of these groups, and to those species which, either on 

 ^ account of their beauty or abundance, strike, or ought to strike, the 

 1 1 attention of every one. 

 ,,k s In the family of the Fapilionidi, we will mention the genera 



* There are exceptions to this. —Ed. 



