BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 5 8 3 



sloped roof -like, the hind- wings frequently folding together like a fan, which 

 is never the case in butterflies. 



Moths are much more numerous in proportion than butterflies, especially 

 in temperate climates. Tropical America produces more than half of all the 

 known butterflies ; in the tropics of the Old World they are 

 much less numerous. England is poor in butterflies, pro- Moths, 



ducing only 60 or 70 species out of the 300 European species, 

 as against 2,000 British moths. The richest countries in Europe for butter- 

 flies are those lying round the central ranges from the Pyrenees to the 

 Balkans ; but the numbers rapidly dimmish, both north and south. Sweden 

 produces about twice as many species of butterflies as Britain ; but Andalusia 

 is not richer than Sweden, and North Africa is much poorer. Nevertheless, 

 both butterflies and moths are to be met with (though, of course, their 

 number is but few), not only in Lapland, but everywhere in Greenland 

 where any vegetation will grow. Iceland, though producing many moths, is 

 the only important country in which it is believed that no butterflies are to 

 be met with. 



In the wings of butterflies, the front edge is called the costa, the outer 

 edge the hind margin, the hinder edge (which, in the hind- wings, is parallel 

 to the abdomen) the inner margin, and the side nearest to the body of the 

 insect the base. The nervures of the wings are useful in classification. The 

 principal nervures which run from the base are the costal, subcostal, median, 

 subrnedian, and internal nervures. The nervures which do not starD from the 

 base are called uervules. A wide space, which extends from the base towards the 

 middle of the wing, between the subcostal and median nervures, is called the 

 discoidal cell. The subcostal nervure divides into two branches on the hind- 

 wings, and generally into from three to five on the fore-wings ; and the 

 median nervure always divides into three. These branches are either called 

 branches of the subcostal and median respectively, or subcostal and median 

 nervules. The discoidal cell is closed at the extremity by short nervules, 

 called discocellular nervules ; and from the end of the cell one or two 

 nervules (called discoidal nervules) run to the extremity of the wing. In 

 some butterflies one of the discocellular nervules is absent or imperfectly 

 formed, leaving the wing open from the base to the hind margin. In such a 

 case the discoidal cell is said to be open ; but otherwise it is called closed. 

 The internal nervure is absent in some families of butterflies. 



The first family of butterflies, the NymphaUdcB, includes about half the 

 entire number of species, and may be known by the first pair of legs being 

 always more or less imperfect, especially in the males. The 

 pupa, when attached to anything (for in exceptional cases Family 



among the Satyrince it is placed on the ground), is suspended Nymphalidce. 

 freely by the tail. The larvae are cylindrical, and are generally 

 furnished with bristles, spines, or long filaments, or are naked, Avith a bifid 

 tail. Sometimes they have horny projections on the head. 



The Nymphalidce, are divided into several sub-families The Danaince are 

 chiefly an Old World group, and the best-known species is Limnas chrysippus 

 (Linn.), a tawny butterfly, about three or four inches across 

 the wings, with an oblique white bar across the tip of the fore- Sub-Family 

 wings, and a curved row of small black spots on the middle Danaince. 

 of the hind-wings. It is common throughout Africa and 

 Southern Asia, and extends into South-Eastern Europe. Another section of 

 this family is represented by the East Indian genus Euplwa (Fabr.), and 



