HANDBOOK OF BUTTERFLIES. 71 



stages egg ; larva, or caterpillar ; pupa, or chrysalis ; and 

 imago, or perfect insect. These changes are called metamor- 

 phoses, or transformations ; and they are complete in Lepidop- 

 lera, which means that the four stages are all sharply separated 

 from each other. A caterpillar has six horny legs in the front 

 of its body, and from four to ten additional fleshy legs, called 

 prolegs, on the hinder segments of its body. The two last of 

 these are called claspers. A butterfly or moth has only six legs, 

 corresponding to the horny legs of the larva ; but occasionally 

 either the first or the last pair is aborted, especially in the males. 

 They have four wings, clothed with scales, and imbibe their food 

 through a proboscis, although caterpillars have mandibles, and 

 bite their food. The first five families of Lepidoptera are 

 called Rhopalocera (Knob-Horns), because their antennae, or 

 feelers, are more or less thickened into a knob at the tip. 

 The butterflies, of which we have sixty-five different kinds in 

 England, fall into this division. The moths are called Heterocera 

 (or Various-Horned), because their antennae are of various 

 shapes, sometimes tapering gradually to the tip, sometimes 

 of uniform thickness throughout, sometimes thickest in the 

 middle, and sometimes more or less comblike or feathery, when 

 they are said to be pectinated. 



The five groups, or families, into which butterflies are divided, 

 are called ffymphaKda t Erycinidce, Lycanidce, Papilionida^ and 

 Hesperiida. The Nymphalidce have the forelegs rudimentary 

 in both sexes, and the pupa is suspended by the tail. It is 

 divided into two subfamilies, Satyrincz and Nymphalintz, The 

 Satyrince are brown butterflies, more or less marked with tawny, 

 and always with a round spot, either in a pale ring, or with a 

 white dot in the middle, at the tip of the fore wings, and often 

 others near the borders of the hind wings. They vary from an 

 inch and a half to two inches in expanse, and many are veiy com- 

 mon. The Meadow Brown (Epinephile Janira}, which is brown, 

 with a tawny patch on the fore wings of the female, abounds in 

 every field ; the Ringlet (E. Uyperanthus), which is blackish 

 brown, with a row of eyes on all the wings beneath, is common in 

 woods ; and the Grayling {Hipparchia Semele), which is brown, 

 with tawny markings, and two eyes on the fore wings, is common 

 in waste places. The Speckled Wood, or Wood Argus (Saty- 

 rus ALgeria), is brown, with yellowish-white spots towards the 

 margins, and is found in woods in spring ; while the Wall- 

 Brown (S. Megara) is a handsome brown and tawny butterfly, 

 common in lanes, etc., and fond of sunning itself on walls. The 

 Marbled White (Melanargia Calathea) is a conspicuous black 



