70 HISTORY OF 



as to make striking and agreeable pictures ; and 

 all must grant, that this specious idleness is far 

 preferable to that unhappy state which is pro- 

 duced by a total want of employment. 



The wings of butterflies, as was observed, fully 

 distinguish them from flies of every other kind. 

 They are four in number ; and although two of 

 them be cut off, the animal can fly with the two 

 others remaining. They are, in their own sub- 

 stance, transparent ; but owe their opacity to the 

 beautiful dust with which they are covered, and 

 which has been likened, by some naturalists, to 

 the feathers of birds, by others, to the scales of 

 fishes, as their imaginations were disposed to 

 catch the resemblance. In fact, if we regard the 

 wing of a butterfly with a good microscope, we 

 shall perceive it studded over with a variety of 

 little grains of different dimensions and forms, 

 generally supported upon a foot-stalk, regularly 

 laid upon the whole surface. Nothing can ex- 

 ceed the beautiful and regular arrangements of 

 these little substances, which thus serve to paint 

 the butterfly's wing, like the tiles of a house. 

 Those of one rank are a little covered by those 

 that follow ; they are of many figures : on one 

 part of the wing may be seen a succession of oval 

 studs, on another part a cluster of studs, each in 

 the form of a heart ; in one place they resemble 

 a hand open, and in another they are long or 

 triangular ; while all are interspersed with taller 

 studs, that grow between the rest, like mushrooms 

 upon a stalk. The wing itself is composed of 

 several thick nerves, which render the construe- 



