1.16 Canadkm Butterflies. 



tains several orders, viz. : LepidoiHem ^ or Butterflies and Moths ; 

 Diptera, or two-winged flies ; and Hemiptcra^ ^^^gs, boat-flies, (fee. 

 The present article deals with the first of these orders. In future 

 numbers we shall probably give a sketch, not only of the remaifi- 

 ing orders of Suctoria, but also of Mandibiilata and Aptera. 



INSECTA HAUSTELLATA. — OKDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



Butterflies and Moths are distinguished from all other insects, 

 Ijy having the icings clothed ivith scales. The scientific term 

 " Lepidoptera " is derived from two Greek words, Zfp/s, a scale, 

 and pteron, a wing. Their wings are not transparent like those 

 of a bee, a fly, or a dragon-fly, nor are they horny like the ely- 

 tra of a beetle, but both surfaces ai'e thickly covered with small 

 scales, which are easily removed, and laid one over the other with 

 great regularity like tiles on the roof of a house. If these be rub- 

 bed off, the membrane of the Aving is left entirely colourless. It 

 is to these scales, therefore, that they owe the splendid colours 

 which render them the objects of such universal admiration. The 

 order is divided into two great Sections : 1. Ehopalocera, contain- 

 ing the Btitterflies^ and of which we shall presently treat ; and 

 2. Heterocera, which includes the Hawkmoths, Bombyces, Noc- 

 tua?, Geometra^, &c. ; or, in short, all the Lepidoptera not having a 

 knob to the antennce. They all alike pass through the stages of 

 egg, larva, pupa, and imago ; and the larva, or Caterpillar, 

 changes its skin several times before it becomes full fed, when it 

 changes to the Pupa, without legs and motionless, frequently 

 forming for its protection in that state, a cocoon of silk, which, in 

 some species, has been an article of commerce from the earliest 

 ages. Want of space compels us to conclude this brief and im- 

 perfect sketch of this interesting order, which is supposed to con- 

 tain more species than any other except Coleoptera; and we now 

 proceed to the consideration of the 



SECTION" I.— EHOPALOCERA, Boisduval. 



LEPIDOPTERA DIURNA, Latrielle. (butterflies.) 



The Diurnal Lepidoptera, or Butterflies, corresponding Avith 

 the Linnean genus Papilio, are distinguished from all other Lepi- 

 doptera, by having the antennaj long and slender, and terminated 

 by a knob, or club.* In the Hesperidae this club is hooked at the 



* Certain foreign genera, however, such as Morplio and Urania, form 

 an exception to this rule, as they have antennfe either of equal thickness 

 tlirou«'hout or tapering slightly at the summit. 



