ARGENT AND SABLE MOTH. Melanippe nastdta. 



V-MOTH. Halia Vauaria. SWALLOW-TAIL MOTH. Ourdpteryx sambucdria. (With two specimens of larva ) 



PEPPERED MOTH. Biston letuldria. WINTER-MOTH. - Cheimatobia Trrumdta. (With larva and wingless feimlc.) 



the Continent this moth is exceedingly plentiful, and is very destructive among the fruit- 

 trees, devouring the leaves and tender shoots as they spring forth in the early part of the 

 year. The general colour of the male is dusky brown, mottled with darker tints ; the 

 hinder wings are also brown, but of a paler hue. 



Before proceeding further, it may be as well to observe that the wings of insects are 

 very remarkable organs, almost anomalous in their character, and having little apparent 

 analogy with the corresponding members in the higher animals. In the birds the wings 

 are simply the development of the first pair of limbs, which are thus sacrificed to terrestrial 

 locomotion, and in the bats and flying-fishes the so-called wings are still modified from 

 the limbs. But in the insects the full number of limbs is preserved, so that the wings 

 are to be attributed to another source. The nearest analogy to these organs seems to be 

 found in the flying dragon, the little lizard which has already been described, and in 

 which the ribs are widely expanded, carrying with them the skin of the sides, and partly 

 answer the purpose for which wings were intended. But even in these curious creatures 

 the analogy fails, inasmuch as the expanded ribs are not furnished with sets of muscles 

 by which they can be moved, arid the only aerial office that they can perform is the sus- 

 tentation of their owner for a very brief period, without any capability of renewing the 

 impetus, and with but trifling power of altering the course. 



On the last illustration is a group containing specimens of several families of moths, 

 many of which contain numerous species, and some of which are very small and appa- 



