52 TIIK UUTTEUFLIKS OF NE^V ENCILAND. 



in place and .supported by tlie tracheae of this segment. Close together, a 

 [)air of efferent ducts arise from the posterior walls of the testis, simple tubes 

 which conduct to two long filiform semintd vescicles near the l)ase of the 

 latter ; these last soon unite to form the ejaculatory canal, the single, 

 slender, excessively elongated duct for all this apparatus, which being many 

 times, generally from three to five times, longer than the body of the insect 

 requires for its accommodation to be rolled into the most complicated con- 

 Aoluted mass imaginable. The duct ends in the intromittent organ, a 

 corneous hollow needle, often expanded apically and always furnished with 

 a bulbous base. Special muscles attached to the posterior walls of the 

 last segment arrange for its forcible ejection. 



II. 



THE MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF BUTTERFLIES, 

 HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 



"Wor.sliip not me, but God!" the angels urge: 

 That is love's grandeur: still, in pettier love 

 The nice eye can distinguish grade and grade. 

 Shall mine degrade the velvet green and puce 

 {)f caterpillar, palmer-worm — or what— 

 Rail in and out of ball, each ball with brush 

 Of A'cnns' eye-fringe round the tur(|uoise egg 

 That nestles" soft. — compare such paragon 

 AVith any scaraba'us of the brood 

 That, l)o"rn to fly, keeps wing in wing-case, walks 

 Persistently a-trundliug dung on earth';' 



Browning.— i?ef? Cotton Kif/ht-Cap Covntni. 



That the families of butterflies rank higher than those of other Le[)idop- 

 tera is universally conceded and susceptible of proof. Every part of their 

 organization when considered comparatiA'cly shows a movement from the 

 lowest moths to the higher butterflies. Agassiz pointed out that in the 

 lower families as a general rule (not without its abundant exceptions) the 

 wings in repose are inclined from each other like the sides of a roof, close- 

 ly resembling the position they occupy during the earlier and therefore 

 inferior pupal state ; while in nearly all butterflies and notably in the 

 higher ones, the wings are held erect, back to back, as far removed as 

 possible from their location in the chrysalis. But this view is assuredly 

 fanciful, since the position of the wings during their still earlier larval 

 condition resembles that of the butterflies much more than it does that of 

 the moths ! 



In reality we are dealing here with families in a suborder and can 

 scarcely expect to find the well-marked signs of relative rank which attach 

 more strongly to the larger divisions into which a class is divided ; among 

 families, rank is subordinated to charactei'istics more peculiarly attaching 

 to the nature of the group ; l)ut hy tracing out the development of certain 

 features of the order, wc find ourselves travelling in a path in Avhich new 



