220 OUT OF DOORS. 



on which it has lived, and at whose foot it has burrowed. 

 It then takes several long and deep inspirations, which 

 have a perceptible effect in shaking out, as it were, the 

 hair- like plumage of the body, and causing it to assume 

 a brighter tint. It next slightly opens the wings, which 

 are still thick and solid, and totally useless for flight, 

 and communicates to them a rapid tremulous motion, 

 every now and then pausing to take a few deep breaths. 

 As it proceeds with this task, fold after fold is gently 

 shaken and smoothed out, each breath driving the air 

 through the tubes, which permeate every part of the 

 wings, and so strengthening these members by regular 

 degrees, until at last they stand out in all their beauty 

 — firm, strong, and pointed, and covered with a 

 blazonry more gorgeous than ever herald (except the 

 herald moth) endued. 



Touch with a camel's-hair brush any part of the 

 wing so as to remove a few scales, dab the brush on a 

 slip of glass, put it under the microscope, and then see 

 how each particle of the almost imperceptible and im- 

 palpable coloured dust which clothes the wings becomes 

 manifest as an elegantly formed scale, sculptured with 

 designs of singular beauty and regularity, formed of at 

 least two, if not three, separate membranes, and waved, 

 toothed, or fringed at the extremity, according to its 

 position on the wing. Just consider how many hun- 

 dreds of thousands of these scales are needed to cover a 

 surface so great, and the inconceivable care which is 

 required, not only in making them, but in setting them 



