KELLOGG: TAXONOMIC VALUE OF SCALES OF LEPIDOPTERA. 75 



about .005 mm. apart. Both white and golden scales were pigmented 

 so as to be almost opaque. The colors produced were the effect of 

 both absorption (pigment) and interference (striae and lamince). The 

 scales were pediceled and inserted in little pockets, and essentially 

 like the scales of Lepidoptera. 



The scales from another exotic Curculionid were small, flattened 

 and irregularly orbicular in outline. One scale was .077 mm. wide at 

 widest part and almost exactly the same in length, and appeared to 

 be irregularly facetted on the surface; a condition which would be 

 another aid to the production of color effects by interference. 



There are often scales on the dorsum of the cephalothorax and abdo- 

 men of spiders, especially among members of the family Attidte. The 

 cephalothorax and abdomen above of a specimen examined were 

 covered with the scales though these scales were not arranged in 

 regula rows. The scales were flattened, pediceled but not striated. 

 The surface of the scale bore, however, small raised points or pro- 

 jections at rather regular intervals. 



As with the scales of the wings, the body-scales serve for two 

 uses, one, a strengthening and protecting, and the other, the 

 l)roduction of color and pattern. The more apparent covering of 

 the lepidopterous body is a close aggregation of generalized scales, 

 long, slender, hair-like, sometimes producing a "wooly" covering, 

 as in Mt'galopygc and many Saturnians. Or there may be an inter- 

 mixture of hair-like scales and scales of more specialization, as most 

 commonly occurs; or the body scales may nearly all be of consider- 

 able specialization, and be closely appressed to the body, as among 

 the rapid-flying Sphinges, and the brilliantly-colered Sesians. 



A specialization of the body-scales, the scale hairs being broad- 

 ened and flattened and closely api)rcssed to the body, forming a 

 smooth continuous coat, as of mail, over the body, would certainly 

 be of advantage to a swift-flying moth, inasmuch as the resistance 

 offered by the air to such a smoothly mailed body would be less than 

 that met with by a body loosely covered with a mass of assurgent 

 hairs. Such a condition of the body-scales is shown by rhilavipeliis 

 and CIucrocaDipa. The protection given to the body by such a coat 

 too, cannot be inconsiderable. In these swift-flying Sphinges the 

 shape of the body, the venation of the wings, and the specialization of 

 the scales of body and wings are all correlated with the fine flight of 

 these moths. 



The specialization of the body-scales is, perhaps, especially appa- 

 rent in connection with the color-function. Among the Sesiidse the 

 bodies are often colored in lines and spots, the limits of the colored 

 areasbeing well defined, and among these moths the highest specializa- 



