Beautiful Butterflies. 33 



equal distances from, each other. In each leg there 

 are three principal divisions, the thigh, the tibia, or 

 pipe, and the tarsi, or toes, just as there are in the 

 human leg, only the shape differs considerably, as you 

 know. A Butterfly would not look well with silk 

 stockings, because he has no calf; the thigh is often 

 fringed with long hairs, and the tibia armed with a spur 

 in the middle, and two others at the top ; the tarsi are 

 five-jointed, and furnished with two claws at the 

 extremity, which are often what is called bifed, that is, 

 cleft in two ; this word comes from the Latin bi — 

 two, whence also comes biped — a two-legged creature, 

 and several other words beginning in the same way. 

 When I tell my little boy he is a biped, he says, " and you 

 are another," and he is quite right, for we are all bipeds 

 — bi, two ; pede, foot — literally, two-footed, as quadru- 

 ped is four-footed; and tripod, a kind of stool that 

 stands upon three feet ; from the Latin quatuor four, 

 tres three; also the roots of many English words. But 

 why do I trouble you with all this about roots and de- 

 rivations ? because I am desirous of making you look 

 into things, to be thoughtful and inquiring, so that you 

 may know the reason why this or that name is applied 

 to a certain object or operation. This is the way to 

 learn. Some Butterflies are called tetrapod, or four- 

 footed, because, although they have six legs, they have 

 but four feet, two of the legs being what are termed 



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