xxxvi LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



"night." Thus "Papillon" in French, from the Latin 

 "Papilio," may mean either a Butterfly or a Moth ; and they 

 distinguish them as " Papillons de jour r and " Papillons de 

 nuit." 



In front of the face project the palpi, which are three- 

 jointed organs, generally hairy or scaly, and differing consider- 

 ably in length and structure. In Butterflies they are generally 

 nearly straight, or slightly curved upwards. When straight they 

 are called " porrected " ; when raised, " ascending " ; and when 

 depressed, " drooping." The terminal joint is usually long, 

 slender, and pointed. The palpi of Butterflies represent the 

 labial palpi, the maxillary palpi being absent or rudimentary. In 

 Butterflies, the palpi are generally more or less conspicuous, 

 and in one or two genera (Libythina in the Nymphalince, and 

 Libythea, an aberrant genus somewhat intermediate between 

 the Nymphalidce. and the Lemoniida), they are several times as 

 long as the head. 



Between the palpi we observe the proboscis, or " the long 

 flexible tube projecting from the mouth, which forms a canal 

 through which the alimentary juices are absorbed. This instru- 

 ment, which is sometimes of great length,* is spirally convo- 

 luted when unemployed, but it can be unrolled with great 

 rapidity, and is admirably fitted to explore the tubular corollae 

 and deep-seated nectaries of flowers, for the purpose of extract- 

 ing their sweet secretions. It is of a cartilaginous substance, 

 and owes its great flexibility to its being composed of numerous 

 rings or transverse fibres, bearing some resemblance to the 

 annulose structure of earthworms and some other animals. 

 It is formed of two distinct pieces, which admit of being sepa- 



* Especially in the Sphingida. In Sfhinx convolvuli\\. attains the length 

 of four or five inches, and in some of the largest foreign Sphinges (Am- 

 phonyx] it may be almost double that length. In Butterflies it is usually 

 well developed, though not approaching to such great length as in the 

 Sphingida, but in many Bombyces and other Moths, including even some 

 Sphingida allied to Smerinthus, it is quite rudimentary, or even altogether 

 absent. 



