CHAPTEE XV 



INSECTA (continued) 



Order I. : Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) 



General '^^'"^ Lepidoptera, or Scale-winged Insects, are char- 

 Character- acterised, as their name infers, by the presence 

 istics. The of scales which cover the surface of the two pairs 

 Wings. p£ large membranous wings. These scales are 

 very minute, and vary much in form and colour ; to 

 them is due the typical marking and beautiful colouring of 

 different butterflies and moths (see Fig. 150). 



The The mouth also of the Lepidopteran insect is 



Proboscis, characteristic. The mouth-parts are usually elon- 

 gated into a long tubular proboscis, which, when not in use, 

 is kept coiled up in a vertical spiral 

 below the head (see Fig. 143). This 

 proboscis appears to be formed, not 

 of the upper or lower lips (labrum 

 and labium) as in Diptera (p. 340), 

 but of the two soft jaws or maxillae, 

 which are long and grooved and yiq. 143.— Head of the Large 

 held together to form a tube. The White Butterfly (Piens 

 other mouth -parts are small and ^"^sicae). 

 inconspicuous, except for the sensory ^' ''''fX^::Xt'"'''' 

 palps of the labium, which are large, 



and usually held curving upwards in front of the head (see 

 Fig. 143, p). The tubular proboscis is used in sucking up 

 the nectar of flowers on which the insect feeds. In some 

 cases its length is remarkable when compared to the size of 

 the insect. In certain Hawk-moths it is as much as 10 inches 

 long. 



213 



