LEPIDOPTERA. 



i6s 



The Perfect Insect. 



Who does not admire the extraordinary splendour, the vivacity, 

 the prodigious variety of colours of these brilliant inhabitants of the 

 air ? Some amateurs have devoted to the purchase of certain butter- 

 flies large sums of money. " Diamonds,'' says Reaumur on the 

 subject, " have perhaps beauties no more real than those of a butter- 

 fly's wings ; but they have a beauty which is more acknowledged by 

 the world in general, and which is more recognised in commerce." 



Fig. 133. — Different forms of the scales of Butterflies, after Reaumur. 



The essential character of butterflies and moths makes them very 



easily recognisable among all other insects. All have four wings, 



which are covered with scales, that communicate to them the brilliant 



colours with which they are decorated. It is these scales which 



adhere to the fingers when we seize one of these charming creatures. 



For a long time this dust was thought to be formed of very small 



1; feathers, but Reaumur showed that it is composed of Httle scales. 



I Their form varies singularly, as we may see in Fig. 133, borrowed 



(i'from the Memoirs of Reaumur,'"' which represents the different forms 



J, jof the scales which cover the wings of Lepidoptera. M. Bernard 



* Tome i. j planche 7, Figs. I a 23. 



