BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



nave had occasion to explain. The figure is 

 perfectly imaginary; no such butterfly having 

 ever existed ; it is comprised of parts of 

 butterflies which really do exist ; one wing is 

 abstracted from a Swallow-tailed, another 

 from an Angle-winged, and so on. 



a, b, c, d are the four wings. 



, the head. 



f, the thorax. 



g, the body. 



h, the antennae, or feelers. 



These are the only parts of a butterfly 

 mentioned in descriptions, except the legs, 

 which are generally hidden from sight, and 

 never used to distinguish species, but only 

 families from each other. 



We will now proceed to consider the margin 

 of the wing ; there is very little occasion to 

 describe the word " margin " ; it is familiar to 

 every one : the eutline or boundary line of 

 the wing is the margin. But there are several 

 sides to the margin : that part of the mat gin 

 which touches the thorax (/) is the base. 



i is the costal margin, and extends from 

 the thorax (f) to the tip (I). 



k is the hind margin, it is tliat part of the 

 margin farthest from the thorax (f) and ex- 

 tends from the tip (I) to the anal angle (o). 



I is the tip of the wing. 



m is the inner margin, so called because 

 innermost or nearest the body ; the butterfly 

 can almost bring this margin close to its body 

 so as to touch it : this inner margin (m) ex- 

 tends from the anal angle (o) to the thorax (/). 



n is the tail ; this occurs rarely, and only 

 on the hind wings. Of course this is not a 

 real tail, but only a projecting portion of the 

 wing, and made of membrane exactly similar 

 to the rest. 



o is the anal angle of the wing. 



Lastly, as regards the shape of the wing, or 

 perhaps, more properly and precisely speak- 

 ing, the outline of the hind margin : you will 

 see at the most cursory glance, that this out- 

 line differs in the fore wings I have repre- 

 sented. 



.<* ia a rounded wing, or a wing with the 

 hAnd margin rounded. 



b is an angled or angulated wing, or ft 

 wing with the hind margin angled. 



c is a tailed wing, or a wing with the hind 

 margin tailed, n being the tail. 



d is a scalloped wing, or a wing with the 

 hiud margin scalloped or cut out into semi- 

 circular notches. 



HYBERNATIOK 



This word has puzzled many, and its mean- 

 ing, as applied to butterflies, still more. The 

 life of a butterfly extends over twelve months, 

 subject to certain exceptions which will be 

 duly explained in the proper place. The 

 round of existence thus occupying a year, and 

 comprising the four states of egg, caterpillar, 

 chrysalis, and perfect insect, it follows that 

 one of these states must occur in the winter, 

 because the year must include the winter 

 months ; but it is ordered by an all-wise and 

 overruling Providence that the winter season 

 shall not occur to all butterflies when they 

 are in the same state : winter must come, that 

 is inevitable ; but it comes to some when they 

 are eggs, to some when they are caterpillars, 

 to some when they are chrysalids, and to 

 others when they are perfect butterflies. So 

 that the word " hybernation " being simply 

 equivalent to " passing the winter," it is said, 

 and very properly so, that one butterfly or, as 

 we entomologists more correctly express it, 

 " one species of butterfly " hybernates in the 

 egg state, another species in the caterpillar 

 state, and so on, as the case may be. Now, it 

 is a most interesting fact, and one that cannot 

 be too strongly impressed on the memory, that 

 all the individuals composing one kind, or 

 more properly one "species," of butterfly 

 always hybernate in the same state : each 

 adheres strictly to the practice of its species ; 

 that is to say that if one Peacock butterfly 

 passes the winter season in the butterfly state, 

 so will its children pass the next winter in 

 the same state, and its children's children the 

 next following winter in the same state, and 

 so on for countless generations. And if one 

 Hairstreak butterfly passes the winter months 

 in the egg state, in like manner will us 



