BRITISH BUTTERFLIES 



CHAPTER I 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF A BUTTERFLY 



WHAT is the difference between a butterfly and a moth, 

 and how am I to distinguish between them ? is a 

 question very often put to the student of insect life 

 the entomologist. 



Butterflies and moths both belong to the Natural 

 Order, Lepidoptera, or scale-winged insects. Butterflies 

 may be distinguished as day flyers, and the moths fly 

 by night. The main physical difference between them 

 appears in the forms of the antennae, or horns ; in the 

 butterflies these organs are club-shaped at the extreme 

 ends. But the antennas of the various species do not 

 all follow a common pattern. In some the knob is 

 abrupt and much smaller, after the manner of a drum- 

 stick ; in others, the thickening commences well down 

 the shaft, and is gradually increased until it very much 

 resembles an Indian club. The antennas of the moths, 

 on the other hand, show much diversity of form, and 

 in a great many species they are totally different in the 

 male and female. A very common and beautiful form 



B.B. I 



