ORDER IV. MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



199 



the minds of all, both young and old. For this reason, if 

 for no other, would we acknowledge our indebtedness to the 

 great Linnaeus, and endeavor, as far as possible, to preserve 

 his scholarly fancies. 



According to his arrangement the butterflies are divided 

 into five different families, which contain : 



1. Knights, with prolonged hind wings, resembling the tail of 



swallows. 



2. Heliconians, with narrow, oblong fore wings, and short hind 



wings. 



3. Danaid^, with round wings. 



4. NvMPHAHD.r!, with denticulated wings. 



5. Plebeians, comprising all other small butterflies. 



The system of Linnaeus, however, has undergone so 

 many changes by different entomologists in France, Ger- 

 many, and England, that it would be only fatiguing to enu- 

 merate and explain all these divisions, even if our limits 

 would allow it. We must, therefore, for the present, rest 

 satisfied with a brief notice of a few of the most conspicuous 

 species of butterflies that abound in North America, par- 

 ticularly those common in the United States. 



One of these is the Piiilodice (Colias philodice), Fig. 47. 

 It is found abundantly during the whole summer, sucking 

 the iuices of flowers, 

 particularly the thistles, 

 or sitting on the surface 

 of mud-puddles, and in 

 every part of the Un- 

 ion, Mexico, and the An- 

 tilles. Its caterpillar is 

 green, and is principal- 

 ly found on clover. 



The whole genus Co- 

 lias is easily distinguished, being always of a more or less 

 bright-yellow color, with spots, on a l)la('k border on tlie 



e riiilodice. 



