Scales of Insects and Fish. 37 



CHAPTER V. 



SCALES OP INSECTS AND FISH. 



| HE wings of moths and butterflies are actually 

 very like those of flies and wasps, etc. They 

 are thin and transparent in themselves, but 

 covered on both sides with beautiful scales, laid in 

 rows like the feathers on a bird, each row, in the 

 generality of specimens, overlapping a portion of the 

 next, so as to give to their surface, when sufficiently 

 magnified, very much the appearance of being tiled 

 like the roof of a house. Each scale has a small foot- 

 stalk, (Plate I., fig. 8, and Plate III., fig. 10,) which 

 fits into a minute socket on the transparent membrane 

 of the wing. The arrangement of the minute sockets 

 is well shown by making a preparation of a butterfly's 

 wing nearly divested of its scales. A good deal of 

 washing and rubbing will be found necessary to 

 remove them, and then the object is one from which, 

 when dry, mounted on a slide, and viewed by trans- 

 mitted light, a good deal may be learned. 



But the wings in their natural condition, viewed as 

 opaque objects, are among the most lovely spectacles 

 presented to us by the microscope. Their appearance 

 strikes us with new wonder, as we observe the beau- 



