176 THE INSECT WOELD. 



butterfly pumps this liquid up again when it is charged with sugar, 

 and conducts it along as far as the base of its trunk, and beyond 

 it." 



The life of the perfect insect is generally very short. Like 

 nearly all other insects, they die as soon as they have propagated 

 their species. The female lays her eggs, which vary in shape, 

 on the plant which is to nourish her progeny. The colour is 

 also very various, and passes through all sorts of shades. At the 

 moment they are laid, many are covered with a gummy substance, 

 insoluble in water, which serves to stick them on the plant. 



In some species, the mother lays her eggs on the trunks of trees, 

 and covers them with down or with the hairs which cover her 

 abdomen, so as to preserve them from cold and damp. She may 

 also hide them entirely under a whitish, foamy substance. Some 

 do not lay more than a hundred eggs ; others lay some thousands. 



To bring the history of the Lepidoptera to an end, it only 

 remains for us to give a sketch of their classification, and to point 

 out some species remarkable, either on account of their beauty, 

 or from their utility. 



We see during the day butterflies flying in our gardens, in 

 meadows full of flowers, or in the alleys of woods. Towards 

 evening, at the sombre hour of twilight, the stroller is some- 

 times surprised to see pass near him large moths, with a heavy 

 and unequal flight, or if one go into a garden on a beautiful 

 calm summer's night, bearing a light, one sees a crowd of moths 

 flying from all parts towards it. 



It is on account of these different hours at which the Lepidoptera 

 show themselves, that naturalists for a long time divided them 

 into diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal. This division was simple, 

 convenient, and seemed founded on nature. Unfortunately, the 

 night fliers of the old authors do not all fly by night ; some 

 species, classed by the old naturalists among the crepuscular or 

 nocturnal, show themselves in the very middle of the day, seek- 

 ing their food in hottest rays of the sun. In the regions near 

 the poles they appear during the day, and in other countries they 

 are more or less friends of the twilight. 



So as not to multiply methodical divisions, we will confine our- 

 selves to classing the Lepidoptera into two sections. 



