CHAPTER XXI. 



ORDER XI. LEPIDOPTERA ( Linnjsus). 



GLOSSATA ( Fabricics). 



The insects that Hit before us in our daily walks, and are known under the common name 

 of butterflies, are representatives of this order, to which also belong the numerous winged 

 visitants around our lamps during the summer evenings. Those which are observed flying 

 in the daytime, never enter our windows by night ; and neither are the moths, so common 

 at night, ever seen sporting by day, or flying abroad by the light of the sun. 



Our first inquiry is, In what respect do the insects of this order differ from those already 

 described? They have four membranous wings, clothed with minute scales : their bodies 

 are soft and covered with hair, and their mouth consists of a tubular filamentous organ 

 designed for sucking the juices of flowers, and which, when not in use, is rolled into a 

 compact coil ; and, lastly, their metamorphosis is complete. We cannot fail to see how 

 widely they differ from the Coleoptera or Orthoptera ; although could all the species of 

 the different orders be spread out before us at once, we should find that they are all con- 

 nected by intermediate links. 



The lepidoptera exist in three states : the caterpillar, the pupa, and the imago or perfect 

 state, in the last of which the insect propagates its kind. In the first or caterpillar state it 

 grows, or increases in size ; and it is during this state that it is necessitated to change or 

 cast off its outer integument, in order that this process may be perfected. It changes its 

 skin four times, and it frequently happens also that its colors and markings undergo a 

 succession of changes. Each insect is invariably furnished with sixteen feet. The mandibles 

 and maxillae do not differ materially from those of the insects of other orders. The true 

 legs are borne by the first three segments of the body : the other legs are called false, or 

 sometimes prop-legs. 



As it is in this state that the insect grows, it becomes necessary that it should take a 

 large quantity of food, which it mostly derives from the vegetable kingdom, feeding upon 

 roots and leaves, and sometimes upon wood. When the larva has acquired its proper size, 

 it ceases to eat, and proceeds to form for itself some kind of case, impervious to water, and 



