384 INSECTS AT HOME. 



sections, known popularly as Butterflies and Moths. We will 

 begin with the Butterflies. 



These insects are, as may be seen by reference to the be- 

 ginning of the chapter, called Rhopalocera, This term is 

 formed from two Greek words, the one signifying a club and 

 the other a horn, and is given to the Butterflies because, as a 

 rule, their antennae are clubbed, or knobbed, at the end. As 

 far as English Lepidoptera are concerned, there is no difficulty 

 whatever in distinguishing between them and the Moths, the 

 latter always having their antennas pointed instead of clubbed 

 at the tip. Butterflies, moreover, cannot fold their antennae to 

 the body as is done by many of the Moths, those organs always 

 standing out boldly from the head. 



Then, the head itself is very distinct from the thorax, and is 

 never sunk into it, as is the case with so many insects, but is 

 attached by a slender neck. The compound eyes possessed by 

 Butterflies are remarkable for the astonishing number of facets 

 which they possess, some of them having sixteen thousand 

 facets on each side, or thirty-two thousand in all. The wings, 

 too, serve to distinguish Butterflies and Moths. The latter 

 insects often have the hind, or second, pair of wings folded 

 longitudinally, but those of the Butterflies are quite rigid and 

 incapable of being folded. When the insect is at rest both 

 pairs of wings are raised over the back, and mostly pressed 

 closely together. This attitude is often employed as a means 

 of avoiding detection, for the Butterfly, when its wings are thus 

 closed, has very much the air of a leaf or a flower petal, and 

 so escapes observation. The splendid and conspicuous Red 

 Admiral and Peacock Butterflies frequently elude the eye in 

 this manner. 



FoLLOWiNa the plan which I have adopted throughout this 

 work, I now give a map or chart of a Butterfly, showing the 

 principal portions of the insect, and the distinctive names 

 attached to them by entomologists. Some of these words look 

 rather formidable, but there is really little difficulty in learn- 

 ing and retaining them ; and the best way of learning them is, 

 to trace them out on the wings of various Butterflies, and, if 

 possible, to sketch those wings on an enlarged scale, and write 

 the names of the different portions. The principal portions of 



