INSECTS 1433 



Scales taken from the brilliant changeable blue- 

 green patch in the hindwing of Papilio Paris, a 

 fine Indian butterfly, have an interesting appear- 

 ance. They are simply pear-shaped in outline, with 

 few longitudinal ribs set far apart, and numerous 

 strongly marked corrugations running across be- 

 tween them. That these are really elevations of the 

 surface is well seen in some scales, even with trans- 

 mitted light, and a high power; for the slopes of 

 the wrinkles that face the light display the lustrous 

 emerald reflection proper to the wing, while the 

 transmitted color of the whole scale is a rich trans- 

 parent red. 



The dimensions of the scales do not bear any cer- 

 tain proportion to the size of the insect which is 

 clothed with them; those from the broad wings of 

 the noble Saturnia Atlas, for example, eight or nine 

 inches in expanse, being exceeded in size by some 

 from those of the little British muslin moth, an inch 

 wide. 



The little beetles which we are familiar with 

 under the name of weevils, characterized by their 

 long slender snouts, at the end of which they carry 

 curiously folding antennae, and which constitute the 

 family Curculionidae, are in many cases clothed with 

 scales, to which they owe their colors and patterns. 

 Several of British species display a green or silvery 

 lustre, which under the microscope is seen to be 

 produced by oval scales. But these are eclipsed by 

 the splendor of many tropical species, especially 

 that well-known one from South America which 

 is called the diamond beetle, and scientifically 



