BULLETIN 39, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



[16] 



"Order LEPIDOPTERA (Astt:?, a scale; 7rr=;0(;v, wiug). Butterflies 

 and Moths, or scaly-wiuged insects. Characterized by having four 



branching-veined membranous wings, 

 each more or less densely covered on 

 both sides with minute imbricated 

 scales which are attached by a stalk, 

 but which easily rub off, and appear 

 to the unaided eye like minute particles 

 of glistening dust or powder. Trans- 

 formations complete. 



" [N'ext to the Lepidoptera, the Cole- 

 optera are, perhaps, most familiar to 

 the popular mind. Every one admires 

 the beauty of these frail creatures, 

 dressed in every conceivable pattern, and adorned with every con- 

 ceivable color, so as to rival the delicate hues of the rainbow, aud 

 eclipse the most fantastic and elaborate designs of man. When magni- 

 fied, the scales, to which this beauty of pattern and color is entirely 

 due, present all manner of 



Fig. 14. — A Butterfly, Fieris oleracea. 



Fig. lo.— a Sphingid, Ampelophaga myron. 



shapes, according to the 



particular species or the 



particular part of the indi- 

 vidual from which they are 



taken. According to Lew- 



euhoeck, there are 400,000 



of these scales on the wing 



of the common silk-worm. 

 " The transformations of 



these insects are complete, 



and the changes are usually so sudden and striking as to have excited 



the wonder and admiration of observers from earliest times. 



"The more common form of the larva is exampled in the ordinary 



caterpillar — a cylindrical worm with ahead, twelvejoints and asub-joint; 



six thoracic or true legs, four abdominal 

 and two anal prolegs. But there is a 

 great variety of these larvae, some hav- 

 ing no legs whatever, some having only 

 the jointed legs, and others having either 

 four, six, eight, or ten, but never more 

 than ten prolegs. With few exceptions 

 they are all vegetable-feeders, and with 



still fewer exceptions, terrestrial. The perfect insects make free use of 



their ample wings, but walk little; and their legs are weak, and not 



modified in the various ways so noticeable in other orders, while the 



front pair in some butterflies are impotent. 



"As an order this must be considered the most injurious of the seven. 



Fig. 16.— a Motb, Uteiheisa bella. 



