The Life-History of a Butterfly 



is the feathered, or comblike, antenna ; another is long 

 and threadlike, and some show a combination of these 

 two forms ; others, again, seem to be striving after the 

 butterfly type, and approach the club shape. It should 

 be noted that not a few moths fly during the day, but 

 it is rare, exceedingly rare, to find a butterfly abroad 

 after sundown. With a little practice in observation, 

 the novice soon learns to distinguish between the two. 



The stages of development of butterflies and moths 

 are practically the same : first the egg ; next the cater- 

 pillar, or larva ; then the pupa, or chrysalis ; and, lastly, 

 the imago, or perfect insect. 



The eggs of the Lepidoptera are surpassingly beauti- 

 ful. Are they like birds' eggs ? Not at all I In the 

 first place they are too minute for comparison with the 

 larger product of the birds ; both in colour and form 

 they more nearly resemble small shells or pearls, as a 

 great many of them are beautifully opalescent, especially 

 when empty. A good hand-lens will reveal a great 

 deal of their beauty, but the low power of an ordinary 

 compound microscope will be necessary to enable you 

 to see all the nice detail of pattern sculptured on their 

 surfaces. Each species of butterfly, or moth, produces 

 eggs of particular shape and ornamentation, so it is 

 quite possible, in most cases, to say to which species 

 an egg belongs. How long the egg may remain un- 

 hatched depends a good deal upon which butterfly's 

 egg it is, the season of the year, and the temperature. 

 Not many butterflies pass the winter in this country in 

 the egg state, that season being usually passed either as 

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