3040 THE JOINTED ANIMALS 



beauty. And it is to this wondrous sculptured dust, breaking up the rays of sun- 

 light as it plays upon the surface of their wings, that butterflies and moths owe 

 their tender shades, brilliant colors, and metallic lustres. A few butterflies are 

 clear winged, with scarcely any scales, such as the Ithomia of Brazil, while the 

 Sesiidce represent the clearwings among the moths. Some orders of insects, such 

 as the Hymenoptera, have four membranous wings like the I^epidoptera, but these 

 are transparent and not clothed with scales. Others, such as the beetles, have the 

 upper pair horny and useless for purposes of flight, the second pair being membran- 

 ous but not scaly. The mandibles or jaws, found in most other four- winged 

 insects except the Hemiptera or bugs, are replaced in the L,epidoptera by a long 

 tubular proboscis or suctorial apparatus, used for exhausting the contents of honey- 

 bearing flowers, or drawing in nutriment from less tasteful sources. In common 

 with all other insects, the Lepidoptera have the body divided into three separate 

 sections. The head, bearing the eyes, proboscis, and antennae; the thorax, whence 

 originate the legs below and the wings above; and lastly the abdomen, bearing 

 along the sides the spiracles for breathing, and the generative organs at the apex. 

 The abdomen is never attached by a narrow stalk or pedicle as in the Hymenoptera. 

 So close may their general resemblance be to other insects, that, as is the case with 

 the hornet clearwing moth, none but a naturalist could distinguish it from the 

 common hornet. A general resemblance of body plan may coexist in individuals of 

 two widely-separate orders, together with a habit of life and temperament, and like- 

 wise essential characteristics, wholly distinct and different. 



The Lepidoptera also resemble the insects of most other orders in 

 passing through several sharply defined phases before the last and 

 perfect stage is attained. All first appear in the form of an egg laid by the mother 

 on some food plant or tree. On hatching, the eggs give rise to a free-walking 

 feeding, sleeping, and breathing larva or caterpillar; thence, after successive 

 changes of the skin, this passes into the quiescent, trance-like state, called the pupa 

 or chrysalis stage; from this it at last emerges, at a suitable season of the year, as the 

 fully-formed butterfly or moth. At the commencement of life the butterfly or 

 moth is a thing of beauty even in the egg state. Butterflies' eggs, though falling 

 into distinct groups of resemblance, on which even systems of classification have 

 been based, are as various as they are beautiful. Globular, oval, flat, barrel -shaped, 

 bottle-shaped, green, white, or brown, the egg is usually of a hue which renders it 

 not easily visible on the leaf where it has been deposited. After a time the shell 

 bursts, the tiny larva creeps forth, and commences feeding either on the egg shell 

 or on the food lying in abundance near at hand. The larvae are long, cylindrical, 

 creeping, worm-like objects, with short legs, and a more or less hairy or quite 

 naked body. The greater number feed upon the leaves of trees, shrubs, plants, 

 and grasses; while many are internal feeders, burrowing deep into the decaying 

 hearts of various trees. Others mine in the pith of thistles; while many more bur- 

 row at the roots of grass, or devour turnip roots, to the detriment of the crops. 

 The larvae of the mining moths ( Tinece) make sinuous channels between the upper 

 and lower skin of various leaves. These in the perfect form are among the small- 

 est and most lovely of all the L,epidoptera. Others, again, feed on clothing and 



