LEPIDOPTERA. 



159 



sects, true children of the sun, are arrayed in the most 

 gorgeous hues : their four ample and broadly-expanded 

 wings being painted with very variety of brilliant tints, 

 arranged in most diverse patterns, sometimes resplen- 

 dent with metallic glosses, often flushed with rainbow 

 hues, that play over the surface with the changing light, 

 and often presenting -that peculiar charm that results 

 from the association of colours that are complemental to 

 each other. These various hues, so characteristic of the 

 Order, depend on the presence of the minute feather-like 

 scales with which the wings are thickly clothed. To the 



FlG. 118. COMMA BUTTERFLY. 



naked eye they appear merely as a fine dust, easily rubbed 

 off by the finger ; but under the microscope they are seen 

 to be thin transparent films, each attached by a short 



FlG. 119. WHITE HAWTHORN BUTTERFLY. 



stalk to the surface of the wing, set side by side in close 

 array, and overlapping each other like the scales of a fish. 

 The true butterflies are distinguished by the shape of 

 their antennae, which are long and thread-like, and gene- 

 rally terminated by a club-shaped dilatation ; sometimes, 

 however, they are of equal thickness throughout, or even 

 thinnest at the end, where they terminate in a hooked 

 point. Most of them when reposing have their wings 



