THE BUTTERFLY. 



501 



wings are soft, opaque, and painted over with 

 a beautiful dust, that comes off with handling. 



The number of these beautiful animals is 

 very great ; and though Linnaeus has reckoned 

 up above seven hundred and sixty different 

 kinds, the catalogue is still very incomplete. 

 Every collector of butterflies can show mi- 

 described species : and such as are fond of 

 minute discovery can here produce animals 

 that have been examined only by himself. In 

 general, however, those of the warm climates 

 are larger and more beautiful than such as are 

 bred at home ; and we can easily admit the 

 beauty of the butterfly, since we are thus freed 

 from the damage of the caterpillar. It has 

 been the amusement of some to collect these 

 animals from different parts of the world ; or 

 to breed them from caterpillars at home. 

 These they arrange in systematic order, or 

 dispose so as to make striking and agreeable 

 pictures ; and all must grant, that this specious 

 idleness is far preferable to that unhappy state 

 which is produced by a total want of employ- 

 ment. 



The wings of butterflies, as was observed, 

 fully distinguish them from flies of every other 

 kind. They are four in number ; and though 

 two of them be cut off, the animal can fly with 

 the two others remaining. They are, in their 

 own substance, transparent; but owe their 

 opacity to the beautiful dust with which they 

 are covered; and which has been likened, by 

 some naturalists, to the feathers of birds; by 

 others, to the scales of fishes : as their imagi- 



a cartilaginous substance, and owes its great flexibility 

 to its being composed of numerous rings or transverse 

 fibres, bearing some resemblance to the annulose struc- 

 ture of earth-worms and some other animals. It is 

 formed of two distinct pieces, which admit of being 

 separated throughout their whole length. Each of these 

 pieces is traversed longitudinally by a cylindrical tube, 

 and being grooved on their inner side, they form when 

 united another canal in the centre, of a somewhat square 

 form, and wider than either of the two lateral ones. The 

 junction of the two parts is so close that the enclosed tube 

 is perfectly air-tight : and this union is effected by means 

 of an infinite number of filets, resembling the lamina; of 

 a feather, which interlace and adhere to each other. Of 

 these three tubes, the central one alone serves for the 

 influx of the alimentary fluids, the two lateral ones being 

 probably employed in transmitting air in aid of respira- 

 tion, which, however, is mainly carried on by means of 

 stigmata or literal pores. The outer extremity of the 

 proboscis is frequently beset with many membraneous 

 papilla, resembling leaflets, which have been regarded 

 by some authors as absorbents. From having observed 

 them chiefly in long and slender trunks, Reaumur was led 

 to conceive, that their only use is to render that organ more 

 steady, byaflbrding numerous points of support, and adher- 

 ing in some degree to the substances into which it is in- 

 serted. In the coloured Plate 69, several of the most beauti- 

 ful species of the butterfly genus are shown, with a truth to 

 nature that must be very satisfactory to the observers and 

 admirers of these magnificent insects. Indeed, the figures 

 more resemble the actual objects laid upon the paper 

 than mere artistic representations. 



rations were disposed to catch the resemblance. 

 In fact, if we regard the wing of a butterfly 

 with a good microscope, we shall perceive it 

 studded over with a variety-of -little grains of 

 different dimensions and lorms, generally sup- 

 ported upon a footstalk, regularly laid upon the 

 whole surface. Nothing can exceed the beauti- 

 ful and regular arrangement of these little 

 substanr.es : which thus serve to paint the but- 

 terfly's wing like the tiles of a house. Those 

 of one rank are a little covered by those that 

 follow : they are of many figures ; on the part 

 of the wing may be seen a succession of oval 

 studs ; on another part, a cluster of studs, each 

 in the form of a heart : in one place they re- 

 semble a hand open ; and in another they are 

 long or triangular ; while all are interspersed 

 with taller studs, that grow between the rest, 

 like mushrooms upon a stalk. The wing it- 

 self is composed of several thick nerves, which 

 render the construction very strong, though 

 light ; and though it be covered over with 

 thousands of these scales or studs, yet its 

 weight is very little increased by the number. 

 The animal is with ease enabled to support 

 itself a long while in air, although its flight 

 be not very graceful. When it designs to fly 

 to a considerable distance, it ascends and des- 

 cends alternately; going sometimes to the right 

 and sometimes to the left, without any appar- 

 ent reason. Upon closer examination, however, 

 it will be found that it flies thus irregularly 

 in pursuit of its mate ; and as dogs bait and 

 quarter the ground in pursuit of their game, 

 so these insects traverse the air in quest ot 

 their mates, whom they discover at more than 

 a mile's distance. 



If we prosecute our description of the 

 butterfly, the animal may be divided into 

 three parts; the head, the corselet, and the 

 body. 



The body is the hinder part of the butterfly, 

 and is composed of rings, which are generally 

 concealed under long hair, with which that 

 part of the animal is clothed. The corselet is 

 more solid than the rest of the body, because 

 the forewings and the legs are fixed therein. 

 The legs are six in number, although four 

 only are made use of by the animal; the two 

 forelegs being often so much concealed in the 

 long hair of the body, that it is sometimes 

 difficult to discover them. If we examine 

 these parts internally, we shall find the same 

 set of vessels in the butterfly that we observed 

 in the caterpillar ; but with this great difference, 

 that as the blood or humours in the caterpillar 

 circulated from the tail to the head, they are 

 found in the butterfly to take a direct contrary 

 course, and to circulate from the head to the 

 tail ; so that the caterpillar maybe considered 

 as the embryo animal, in which, as we have 

 formerly seen, the circulation is carried on 



