RUTTEKFLIES A XI) MOTHS OF THE GREEN LANES. 145 



anything with which we are acquainted. For, im- 

 mediately one such male insect has paired with the 

 female, the charm is broken no longer are the 

 ardent cavaliers attracted ! 



The internal structure of the Lepidoptera a name 

 well given to butterflies and moths, as we shall 

 presently see is also of great interest to the micro- 

 scopist. The mouth-tube is not formed for breathing, 

 but for suction only. Aeration is carried on by a 

 series of tubes ramifying through the body, and 

 receiving the air through openings in the sides of 

 the abdomen, which resemble, to compare small things 

 with great, the port-holes of a ship. These are 

 called the tracJiea, and when you dissect and examine 

 such portion of an air-tube through the microscope, 

 you see it is formed of a spiral thread of chitine 

 so closely wound on itself as to be impervious. The 

 nervous system runs through the body from head to 

 tail, and is gathered into knots, from which radiate 

 threads of nerves, where the legs and wings are 

 situated. Just as we find our towns and cities best 

 supplied with lines of converging rails and telegraph 

 wires, to administer to the more active commercial 

 and social life, so do we always find in the inver- 

 tebrate animals the nervous ganglia gathering 

 thickest in those parts whence motion or other active 

 functions have to proceed. 



To the young student of microscopy, we can 

 recommend no objects which are so readily obtain- 

 able, or that can be better studied by him, than the 



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