170 



THE INSECT WOELD. 



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

 butterflies large sums of money. " Diamonds/ ' says Reaumur on 

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

 butterfly's wings ; but they have a beauty which is more acknow- 

 ledged by the world in general, and which is more recognised in 

 commerce." The essential and distinctive character of butterflies 

 and moths makes them very easily recognisable among all other 

 insects. All have four wings, and these wings differ from those of 

 other insects, in that they are covered with scales, which commu- 

 nicate to them the brilliant colours with which they are 

 decorated. It is these scales which adhere to the fingers when 

 one seizes one of these charming creatures. 



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

 small feathers, but Reaumur showed that it is composed of little 



v i o <P 



V V 



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



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

 borrowed from the memoirs of Reaumur,* which represents 

 the different forms of the scales which cover the wings of 

 Lepidoptera. M. Bernard Deschamps has closely studied them. 

 According to this naturalist, they are composed of three mem- 

 branes, or plates, superposed one on the other, of which the first 

 is covered with granulations of a rounded form, which give to 

 these scales their splendid and varied colours ; the second scale 



* Tome i. planche 7, Fig. 1 a 23. 



