. ^ l> A if ,-.. 



MONTHLY MICKOSCOPICAL JOUKNAL. 



JANUAKY 1, 1872. 



I. — TJie Marhings on the Battledore Scales of some of the Lejpi- 

 doptera. By John Anthony, M.D. Cantab., F.E.M.S., &c. 



(Bead before the Eoyal Microscopical Society, Dec. 6, 1871.) 

 Plates I. and II. 



Having long felt assured that the ordinary coarse representations of 

 the markings on the " battledore scales " of butterflies were most 

 imperfect, if not altogether erroneous, I last summer prepared a large 

 number of slides of these scales, from the wings of the common 

 meadow-blue butterfly (Polyomniatiis Alexis of Stainton), with a 

 full determination to examine them critically, under varied con- 

 ditions of hght, and with the aid of the very best modern optical 

 appliances. 



I carried on this examination at intervals for several months, 

 and the interest I felt in this self-imposed task increased greatly as 

 I went on, inasmuch as, although I had been pretty familiar with 

 the microscopic appearances of most of the scales of the Lepidoptera, 

 I most certainly had never seen anything at all resembling what I 

 made out on these battledore scales. In what I saw there was 

 nothing incompatible with the usual representations of the mark- 

 ings, it was simply the reduction of chaos to order, though the 

 clear, definite structures I made out were so singular, that I hesi- 

 tated for some time to accept them as other than " Fata Morgana," 

 of which the microscope is too often justly accused. However, a 

 more and more careful elimination of all probable sources of error, 

 as from spectra, shadows from obliquity of Hght, &c., showing me 

 constantly the same definite appearances, I feel a confidence in the 



C^ EXPLANATION OF PLATES I. and II. 



r — Plate I. 



T~i Imaginary Construction of Battledore Scale of Polyom. Alexis : — 



I j Fig. 1. — Front view. 



„ 2. — Profile and section of profile. 

 C_J „ 3. — Section at right angles to axis of scale. 



UJ 



r-^ Plate II. 



Details of Battledore Scales of P. Alexis. 

 VOL. VII. 



