B UTTERFLIES. 1 1 9 



of spiral muscles, that wind in opposite directions. When not in 

 use, this singular proboscis is coiled up into a very small space, 

 and lodged beneath the head. The larvae are commonly known 

 by the name of caterpillars : they have a soft cylindrical body, 

 three pairs of horny legs, and from four to ten pairs of false feet, 

 or " clingers," attached to the hinder segments, each composed of 

 a circle of horny hooklets supported on a fleshy protuberance. 

 The pupa, called a chrysalis, is motionless, and its limbs are folded 

 down and covered with a transparent varnish. Their position, 

 however, can be generally distinctly traced. 



The Lepidoptera are classed by entomologists under three great 

 sections. The Diurnal, that only fly by day ; the Crepuscular, 

 only seen during the morning or evening twilight; and the Noc- 

 turnal, whose period of activity is during the night : each of 

 these will require separate notice. 



The Diurnal Lepidoptera are 



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FIG. 118. COMMA BUTTERFLY. FIG. IIQ. WHITE HA\VTHOKN BUTTERFLY. 



The Butterflies (Paptiionida). These beautiful insects, true children of 

 the sun, are arrayed in the most gorgeous hues, their four ample and broadly- 

 expanded wings being painted with every variety of brilliant tints, arranged 

 in most diverse patterns, sometimes resplendent 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 charac- 

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

 with which the wings are thickly clothed. To the naked eye they appeal- 

 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 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 generally termi- 

 nated 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 raised perpen- 

 dicularly, so that their backs touch each other, and nothing is seen of them but 

 their under surface. Butterflies generally rjass their pupa state without any 



