136 



NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



this dust has regular forms, and consists of horny scales, 

 fastened in the wings. From this circumstance the order 

 of entomology comprising Moths and Butterflies is called 

 Lepidoptera, which signifies in English &quot; Scale- winged.&quot; 



The head of these insects is provided with two large glob 

 ular eyes, covered with a horny skin, which under the mag 

 nifying glass looks like a net-work, consisting of a number 

 of elevated points or convexities, of which each one may, 

 perhaps, be considered a single eye. This horny skin is 

 transparent, and when taken off and looked through, for 

 instance, at one man, there are presented to us a whole 

 army of Liliputians. But in spite of this multifarious vi 

 sion, the insect probably sees only that object which is in the 

 direct angle of vision, or which is in a straight line with its 

 point of sight. 



Fi-rurc 2S. 



Suturnia lo. Female. 



On the upper part of the head, between the eyes, are 

 seen two thread-like filaments, called &quot;feelers,&quot; antenna^, 

 as in the Saturnia lo (Figs. 27 and 28), and in the Asterias 

 (Fig. 30). The use of these organs has not yet been exactly 



