8 INTRODUCTION. 



the antennae are folded under the wings in repose it may be at once safely concluded that 

 the insect is not a Butterfly, even though it may fly by day, or hold its wings partially erect. 

 In some genera of Butterflies the club at the end of the antenna is almost obsolete, but still the 

 antennae are straight, erect and never folded back or concealed. On the other hand, many of the 

 Moths are day-fliers, many have slender bodies, and in many the shape of the wings and 

 general appearance present great similarities to the appearance of Butterflies, but in such 

 cases the structure of the antennae will serve to determine the affinities.* 



Butterflies, as well as Moths, are oviparous, and pass through four stages of development — 

 the egg, the caterpillar, the chrysalis, and the imago, or perfect insect. The usual extreme 

 period of existence extends to one year, during which all four stages are accomplished ; but in 

 numerous instances, especially in warm climates, where the winter is short and the summer 

 long, one or more intermediate broods occur, in fact in some cases there is a continuous 

 succession of broods throughout the year, while occasionally, under unfavourable circumstances, 

 the egg or the chrysalis may lie dormant through more than one season. 



The EGGS of Butterflies are deposited either singly on in groups, on the leaves or bark of 

 trees as a rule ; sometimes on the calyx of a flower, as in some of the Lyccenida, but always 

 on or near to the food-plant of the caterpillar. In form and pattern the eggs are strangely 

 diversified, far more so than among birds ; but for each species the eggs are uniform in shape, 

 colour, and structure, so that the species to which any particular egg belongs can easily be 

 identified : at the same time the eggs of closely allied species often difTer widely, so that 

 among Butterflies the eggs afford little or no indication of the affinities of the perfect insect. 

 The laying season varies according to the habits of the species — some kinds passing the 

 winter or " hybernating " in the egg state, some as caterpillars, some as chrysalises, and some, 

 again, in the perfect state. 



The CATERPILLARS of Butterflies are usually elongate, and more or less cylindrical in 

 shape, (see Plate II). Tliey consist of thirteen segments, the first of which forms the head and 

 is furnished with twelve microscopic eyes, situated near the mouth, six oir each side, and gener- 

 ally arranged in a circle. These eyes are highly convex, only enabling the caterpillar to see ob- 

 jects when close against its mouth ; the head varies in shape very much, and is generally furnish- 

 ed with two short, sometimes retractile, antennae, and two feelers, which usually emerge one 

 on each side from tiie apex of the underlip, and appear to correspond with the labial palpi 

 of the perfect insect jand occasionally with other protuberances of various kinds. The mouth is 

 furnished with a pair of strong, horny, toothed jaws or mandibula, working sideways, and a lower 

 pair of jaws of a softer consistency termed wa;r?7/£j ; these latter are furnished with a pair of 

 small jointed organs corresponding to the palpi. Near the summit of the labium or under- 

 lip, is a small orifice through which issues the silken thread which caterpillars produce. The 

 legs are sixteen in number, arranged in pairs on the second, third, fourth, seventh, eighth' 

 ninth, tenth, and thirteenth segments ; the front three pairs, or the true legs, which correspond 

 to the legs in the perfect insect, are horny, jointed, and terminate in a strong claw ; tiie last 

 five pairs are very diff'erent in structure, being wide, fleshy and broadened at the base, and 

 are termed " prolegs " or " claspers " ; the last pair of claspers are termed the "anal" 

 claspers, and the remaining four pairs the " abdominal " claspers. The true legs in front are 

 also sometimes called the "pectoral" legs. Caterpillars are also provided with eighteen 

 "spiracles" or breathing holes arranged in rows along their sides — one row on each side 

 of nine spiracles, one to each segment, except the first, third, fourth, and thirteenth, on 

 which they are wanting. These spiracles are the mouths of air-tubes which constitute 

 the respiratory system. Besides these regular structural features, they are often furnished 

 with remarkable appendages, (see Plate II). The caterpillars of Athytna and some other genera 

 are provided with erect processes, more or less spiny towards the tip. Some caterpillars, such as 

 those oi Adolias, have lengthened procumbent appendages on each side, fringed with long hairs ; 



* In some aberrant genera of American Moths the antennae are clubbed. But no Indian Moths, so far as 

 we know, exhibit this feature. 



