CHAPTER VI 

 THE BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS: LEPIDOPTERA 



And what 's a butterfly ? At best 

 He 's but a caterpillar drest. JOHN GAY. 



The Monarch Butterfly. One of the commonest and best 

 known of our butterflies is the monarch, or milkweed butter- 

 fly (Ano'sia plexip'pus, Fig. 30). It is a tawny-colored species 

 expanding about ten centimeters (four inches). The wings 

 have black veins, and the margins are black with white spots. 

 The colors are due to the presence of tiny scales, which cover 

 the surface regularly and overlap like the shingles on a roof. 

 Besides serving for the display of the colors, the scales also 

 strengthen the wings. The scales are in origin modified hairs, 

 like those which cover the rest of the body. The mouth-parts 

 are formed for sucking the nectar of flowers, and consist 

 mainly of a large tubular tongue, or proboscis, which is coiled 

 up beneath the head. The proboscis is formed from the length- 

 ening and union of the first maxillae. The mandibles are so 

 small as to be hardly visible. The anterior legs are so much 

 reduced in size that they cannot be used for walking, and the 

 butterfly is therefore practically four-legged. 



The monarch passes the winter in the South, like our 

 migratory birds, and with approaching warm weather the dif- 

 ferent individuals slowly work their way northward, the 

 females laying eggs in different places in the course of the 

 journey. The eggs are pale green and are deposited singly 

 on the leaves of the different species of milkweed. In about 

 four weeks the eggs hatch into caterpillars, which immediately 

 proceed to devour the egg-shells. For the rest of their larval 



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