SCALE-WINGED INSECTS sii 
SCALE-WINGED INSECTS, OR BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 
BY W, F, KIRBY, F.L.S. 
BUTTERFLIES and MOTHS are easily distinguished from other insects by many very obvious 
characters, and a considerable number are remarkable for the beautiful and varied colours of 
their wings. These are, as it were, tiled with overlapping scales, attached to the membrane 
by a slender stem; hence their name, Scale-winged Insects. These scales differ very much 
in shape, sometimes being long and slender, and almost hair-like, while at other times they 
are widened at the extremity, like a battledore, or they may be short and broad, like a fan 
orashovel. Different forms of scales are found on different parts of the wings of the same 
insect; and some forms of scale are peculiar to the male, as are usually the dense tufts of scales 
found on the fore wings of the Skipper Butterflies, and on the hind wings of the Chrysippus 
Butterfly. The varied colours of these scales are due partly to pigment, interposed between the 
extremely delicate double or triple tissues of which the scales are composed; or, more rarely, to 
the refraction of light from the surface of the scales themselves, or, as has recently been stated, 
to different coloured scales alternating so that the varying colours are visible at different angles, 
as in the metallic “shot” colour of the Purple Emperor Butterfly, and in various species 
found in South America and other countries. In the case of the Purple Emperor, and in 
many other butterflies, this “shot” colouring is confined to the males. Indeed, as a rule, 
female butterflies and moths are larger than the males, but far less brilliantly coloured than 
their mates. There are, however, many species in which the sexes differ little in size or 
colour; but it only rarely happens that the female is more brightly coloured than the male. 
The bodies of butterflies and moths, the legs, and often more or less of the base or 
borders of the wings are clothed with hair or hair-like scales. These insects have a long or 
short proboscis, through which they imbibe their food, which consists of the honey of flowers, 
the sap of trees, or moisture from the ground. Like other insects, they have six legs in the 
perfect state; but in some species either the front or hind pair becomes more or less rudimentary, 
especially in the males. 
Butterflies and moths pass through four stages. The egg is laid by the female on 
some plant which will provide 
suitable nourishment for the 
caterpillar. Acaterpillar, which 
is the next stage, is a jointed, 
worm-like creature with sixteen 
legs; those corresponding with 
the legs of the perfect insect 
are horny, and a pair is placed 
on each of the first three 
joints behind the head. The 
next four pairs, called “ pro- 
legs,” are thick and fleshy, and 
a pair is placed under each of 
joints seven to ten (reckoning 
the head as joint one), the last 
joint of all being provided with 
a pair slightly differing from the 
others, and called ‘‘claspers.” In 
many young caterpillars, how- 
ever, and also inthe full-grown 
caterpillars of a considerable 
number of moths (especially These butterflies are ‘0 remarkably like certain leaves that tt is almost impossible ta distinguish 
among those with slender the difference even at close quarters 
Photo by #. Edwards} Lvviesoorne 
LEAF-BUTTERFLY 
