228 ^ INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



and instead thereof we find a slender tongue, by means of 

 which liquid nourishment is conveyed to the mouth of the 

 insect, and its stomach becomes capable of digesting only 

 water and the honeyed juice of flowers. 



Ceasing to increase in size, and destined to live but a short 

 time after their final transformation, butterflies and moths 

 spend this brief period of their existence in flitting from flower 

 to flower and regaling themselves with their sweets, or in 

 slaking their thirst with dew or with the water left standing 

 in puddles after showers, in pairing with their mates, and in 

 laying their eggs; after which they die a natural death, or faU 

 a prey to their numerous enemies. 



These insects belong to an order called Lepidoptera, which 

 means scaly wings ; for the mealy powder with which their 

 wings are covered, when seen under a powerful microscope, is 

 found to consist of little scales, lapping over each other like 

 the scales of fishes, and implanted into the skin of the wings 

 by short stems. The body of these insects is also more or less 

 covered with the same kind of scales, together with hair or 

 down in some species. The tongue consists of two tubular 

 threads placed side by side, and thus forming an instrument 

 for suction, which, when not in use, is rolled up spkally beneath 

 the head, and is more or less covered and concealed on each 

 side by a little scaly or hairy jointed feeler. The shoulders or 

 wing-joints of the fore wings are covered, on each side, by a 

 small triangular piece, forming a kind of epaulette, or shoulder- 

 cover ; and between the head and the thorax is a narrow piece, 

 clothed with scales or hairs sloping backwards, which may be 

 called the collar. The wings have a few branchino- veins, 

 generally forming one or two large meshes on the middle. 

 The legs are six in number, though only four are used in 

 walking by some butterflies, in which the first pair are very 

 short and are folded lil^e a tippet on the breast ; and the feet 

 are five-jointed, and are terminated, each, by a pair of claws. 

 It would be difficult, and indeed impossible, to arrange the 

 Lepidopterous insects according to their forms, appearance, 

 and habits, in the caterpillar state, because the caterpillars of 

 many of them are as yet unknown ; and therefore it is found 



