

LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. Ill 



or like the tiles on a roof ; the shafts towards the 

 body of the insect, and the expansion towards the 

 end of the wing, reflecting often the most beautiful 

 colours. The eyes are reticulated and large ; and, 

 besides these, some have two or three stemmata, 

 situated on the forehead. The palpi have from two 

 to three articulations ; they are hairy, standing out- 

 wards, and sometimes a little upwards. Butterflies, 

 with their spiral tongues, suck the nectareous juices 

 of flowers ; but, in general, they need little food ; 

 some, indeed, whose tongue is very short, seem to 

 take no nourishment at all. They have, on each 

 side, nine spiracula, or organs of respiration, of which 

 one is situated on the thorax, the other eight on the 

 segments of the abdomen ; the last segment is without 

 any. The principal function of the perfect insect 

 is to propagate its species, for which purpose the 

 female, from a peculiar instinct, deposits her eggs on 

 such plants, and in such places, as afford the proper 

 nourishment to the larva when excluded ; after which 

 both sexes soon cease to live. 



proportion if we compare with it some of the smaller Butterflies 

 whose whole dimensions are not a quarter of an inch? 



The wing of a Peacock Butterfly, prematurely taken out of 

 a pupa, was subjected to the same mode of investigation, when 

 it was found to be nine and a quarter times finer than that of 

 the perfect insect ; and that the square inch contained nine 

 hundred and thirty-one thousand eight hundred and eight 

 scales to the square inch. So that this natural mosaic must 

 be above ten hundred and sixty three times finer than the 

 mosaic of the boasted pictures of modern Rome, where inge~ 

 nuity, animated by zeal, has exerted its utmost efforts. 



