LEPIDOPTERA 



197 



Mx^ 



The body and legs are covered, as a rule, with dense hairs. 

 Four wings are usual, and these are nearly always clothed on 

 both sides with extremely 

 numerous scales of peculiar 

 shape, which can readily be 

 recognised in the microscopic 

 examination of dust, etc. 

 Sometimes, as in the clear- 

 wings, the scales are not de- 

 veloped over large parts of the 

 wings, or fall off immediately, 

 so that these moths acquire 

 a mimetic resemblance to 

 wasps, hornets, ichneumons, 

 and other Hymenoptera, which 

 is greatly enhanced by the 

 colouring, the attitudes and 

 the diurnal habits of the 

 mimics. The wings are not 

 much folded when at rest, 

 though the hind wings are 

 often concealed by the fore 

 pair ; in butterflies, they are 

 commonly erected above Fig. loo.-Mouth-parts of bumet moth. 



the back when the insect The identity of the pans marked ATk with 

 , . . 11- true mandibles has been questioned. 



settles. An mterlockmg ap- 

 paratus usually attaches the hind wings to the fore pair. 



The six legs are long and hairy; 

 the fore pair are useless for walking 

 in some butterflies. 



Life-history etc. — Male Lepidop- 

 tera are often smaller than the 

 females of the same species, brighter 

 coloured, and with more complex 

 antennae. Female moths are not 

 infrequently wingless. In such 

 cases . the larva feeds upon social 

 plants, or indiscriminately on the 

 plants which are likely to occur 



l-m 



Fig. lOT. — Diagram of mouth- 

 parts of moth. 



leaves of a number 



of 



a , 



together. The careful dispersal of the eggs in sufficiently 

 distant spots, which is one motive for the development 



