Fif;. 94. — Larva of the T.arge Whiue 

 {Pieris brassic<r). 



LEPIDOPTERA (BUTTERFLIES). 193 



Lepidoptera are haustellate, the mouth heing prolonged into 

 a long sucking proboscis or antlia. The scales are the colouring 

 part of the wing : they easily rub off, when the membranes of 

 the wing are seen to be transparent. 



All Lepidoptera have a complete metamorphosis. The ova 

 are often beautifully sculptured. The larvte or caterpillars have 

 six true legs and usually four pairs of prolegs, with the addition 

 of an anal pair at the 

 hind end. The larvae 

 are mostly vegetarians, 

 and are provided with 

 strong biting mandibles. 

 They moult four times. 

 The length of life is very variable : some only live ten days, 

 others two or three years (Goat Moth — Cossus). The pupas 

 may be naked, girdled by a band of silk, or enclosed in a 

 cocoon of silk or a cell of earth. The adults are nearly 

 always winged, except in some female moths (Winter Moths), 

 and are usually short-lived. Some imagines hibernate (Tortoise- 

 shell Butterfly), and these have a longer period of existence. 

 Large numbers of moth larvae are injurious, but only a few 

 Rhopalocera. 



BuTTEBFLiBS (Ehopalocbra) (Fig. 95). 



Amongst the seventy British Butterflies only three (PipriiTcH 

 or Whites) can be considered of any economic importance, 

 although others, such as the Comma {Vanessa G. — album) and 

 the Peacock (F. id), may attack hops, and the Large Tortoise- 

 shell (F. polycMorus), cherries. The clubbed antennae always 

 identify a butterfly. The larvae, too, are often spiny ( Vanessidce). 

 The pupa or chrysalis (4) is angulated, and generally pale in 

 colour. No cocoon is formed, the chrysalids either hanging 

 with the head downwards and attached by a lump of silk at 

 the tail, or suspended head upwards, when they are girdled 



N 



