GENERAL DEFINITION OF LEPIDOPTERA. 





groups, are capable of being folded. The metamorpho- 



complete ; that is, the pupa is quiescent : some 



authors term it obtect, and others incomplete : this latter 



term, however, is objectionable, inasmuch as it is cal- 

 culated to give an erroneous impression on the subject. 

 The change of the caterpillar or larva (a) to the chrysalis 

 or pupa (6), and then to the perfect winged insect (c), 

 in this species, and nearly all others throughout the 

 whole order, is as complete an external metamorphosis 

 as can possibly be imagined. 



(73.) The connection of this order in the circle of 

 the Ptilota has been already intimated, and will again 

 be adverted to when we come to speak of the Hemi- 

 ptera and the Neiiroptera. Several of the hemipterous 

 genera have their wings covered with a farinaceous 

 powder, and dilated quite as much as many of the 

 moths. Mr. MacLeay instances the African Plata 

 ttmbata, as another proof of this affinity ; since it is 

 not c :ute of ocelli, but has the antennae re- 



markably developed. The immediate means of trans- 



