CHAPTER XVIII. 



Order LEPIDOPTERA (Lep-i-dop'te-ra). 



The Moths or Millers, the Skippers, and the Butterflies. 



The members of this order have four wings ; these are 

 membranous, and covered with overlapping scales. The month- 

 parts are formed for sucking. The metamorphosis is complete. 



The name of this order is from two Greek words : lepis, 

 a scale ; and pteron, a wing. It refers to the fact that the 

 wings of these insects are covered with scales. Every lad 

 that lives in the country knows that the wings of moths and 

 butterflies are covered with dust, which comes off upon one's 

 fingers when these insects are handled. This dust when 

 examined with a microscope is found to be composed of very 

 minute scales of regular form ; and when a wing is looked at 

 in the same way, the scales are seen arranged with more or 

 less regularity upon it. The body, the legs, and other 

 appendages are also covered with scales. 



The scales of Lepidoptera are modified hairs. That is, 

 they are hairs which, instead of growing long and slender as 

 hairs usually do, remain short, but grow very wide as com- 

 pared with their length. Every gradation in form can be 

 found from the ordinary hair-like form, which occurs most 

 abundantly upon the body, to the short and broad scale, 

 which is best seen upon the wings. 



There is a great difference among the insects of this order 

 regarding the regularity of the arrangement of the scales 



191 



