European Butterflies and Moths. 



The Rhopalocera, or Butterflies, are divided into several families, differing considerably in 

 appearance, but may always be easily distinguished from the Moths by many important 

 characters. Their wings are broad, and are nearly always brightly coloured on both sides, and 

 the under surface is frequently of a very different pattern to the upper, especially on the hind- 

 wings. When in repose they hold the wings erect, or else opened to the fullest extent, sometimes 

 fanning them up and down. It is only in some of the HcsperidcB, or Skippers, the family which 

 comes nearest to the Moths, that we find the fore-wings covering a small portion of the hind- 

 wings when at rest ; and the hind-wings of butterflies are never folded like a fan, as is the 

 case with many moths. The body is nearly always small in comparison with the wings, and 

 is thicker in proportion in the Skippers tlian in any other family. The position which these 

 insects assume when at rest has clearly a reference to the comparative thickness of their bodies ; 

 for the Geomctrce, or Looper Moths, in which the body is not larger in proportion than in 

 the butterflies, often sit with their wings erected when at rest like the latter. The antennae, 

 or feelers, are generally more than half as long as the fore-wings, and are always more or less 

 thickened or knobbed, and sometimes slightly hooked at the tip. In moths, the antennae are 

 of various shapes ; but even the transparent winged Hawk Moths, and the Barnet Moths 

 (Pis. 20 and 21), which most resemble butterflies in this respect, have such differently shaped 

 antennae that this character would be alone amply sufficient to prevent their being mistaken 

 for them. There is no European moth which has antenna sufiiciently resembling those of a 

 butterfly to allow of its being mistaken for one. 



All European butterflies fly by day only, and seldom make their appearance in the 

 morning till the sun has dried the dew off the grass. They never fly in the rain, and very 

 little when the sun is obscured. In hot countries, on the contrary, many species, especially 

 of dark colours, fly chiefly at dusk. 



The larvae, or caterpillars, of butterflies have sixteen legs ; the first six are horny, and 

 correspond to those of the perfect insect, and the others are fleshy, and are called " pro-legs." 

 The caterpillars are cylindrical, spindle-shaped, or short and thick like a woodlouse, and are 

 sometimes smooth, and sometimes covered with fine short hair, or else with spines, or fleshy 

 warts covered with hair. They generally live on plants, often in company, without any covering ; 

 but some species live between leaves, which they spin together. The pup^e, or chrysalides, are 

 suspended by the tail, and are often fastened by a girth round the body as well. They are 

 more rarely enclosed in a loose web, or formed on or under the ground. 



FAMILY I.— PAPILIONIDyE. 



To this family belong the great Ornitlwptcra, or Bird-winged Butterflies, of the East Indies, 

 some of which measure nearly a foot across the expanded wings, and are tlie largest of all 

 butterflies, surpassing even the great Blue and Owl-eyed Butterflies of South America (Alorplio 

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