34 Beautiful Butterflies. 



spurious or false, there being only one joint in the tar sis, 

 and consequently no claw or foot. 



From the legs we go naturally to the wings, they 

 being situated very close together ; of these butterflies 

 have two pairs, the upper pair being generally of a tri- 

 angular form, and the lower pair nearly circular ; the 

 shape, however, as well as the size, varies greatly in 

 different species ; and the difference in the colours and 

 markings is, as you know, great indeed. I have 

 already spoken of the mealy powder or scales (feathers 

 they are sometimes called) , in which the colour resides, 

 and may, therefore, pass on to observe that the thin 

 membrane, of which the wing itself consists, is traversed 

 by small tubes called nervures, filled with air and air- 

 like fluid, which acts so as to expand the wing when 

 the fly first issues from the pupa state, and to strengthen 

 and keep it extended afterwards ; the principal nervures 

 rise from the point where the wing joins the body, and 

 where there is a horny scale covered with tufts of hair, 

 so that it resembles a little epaulet, such as the soldiers 

 wear ; and the parts between the main pipes, as they 

 may be called, are termed by naturalists areolets, that 

 is, little spaces, from area, an open or flat surface 

 between lines or boundaries. 



Naturalists consider the upper wing of the Butterfly 

 divisible into three of these spaces, and across them 

 from branch to branch ramify, that is, spread out, 



