LEPIDOPTERA; 



OK, 



BUTTEEFLIES AND MOTHS. 



CHAPTER I. 

 PJPJLIONIDM 



The great order of insects which now comes before us is easily 

 to be distinguished from any other. A beetle may be mistaken 

 for a Heteropterous insect, or a Hymenopterous insect for one of 

 the Diptera. But there is no such likelihood of mistake with 

 regard to the Lepidoptera, or scale-wing insects, the feathery 

 scales with which their wings are covered being a distinction 

 that is at once recognized. 



These scales are arranged just like the slates on the roof of a 

 house, and as there are many species in which the scales are 

 squared at the ends, the resemblance is curiously exact. They 

 vary very greatly in form and size, some being rounded at the 

 ends, some deeply toothed in notches, some short and square, 

 and some long and almost hair-like. If placed under the micro- 

 scope, their surface is seen to be adorned with exquisite sculp - 

 tarings and markings, so that each scale is quite as worthy of 

 examination as the insect it adorns. Minute as are the scales, 

 the microscope shows that they are composed of three distinct 

 layers, and nothing is more common than to see the upper or 

 under layer torn, and the ragged piece looking just like a " snuff- 

 box " torn in a dress. 



The mouths of the Lepidoptera are made for suction, the man- 

 dibles, or outer jaws, being very minute and practically needless, 



