Beautiful Butterflies. 11 



History. Pa-pil-io, pronounced pa-pil-yo ; it comes 

 from the Latin, and means a Butterfly, which is all I 

 can tell you about it. In botanical works you will 

 sometimes see plants spoken of that have papilionaceous 

 flowers, that is, with petals something in shape like 

 the wings of a Butterfly, as the sweet pea has, and 

 several other beautiful ornaments of the garden, with 

 which you must be familiar. This resemblance of the 

 bright-hued flowers to the Butterflies' wings have been 

 often alluded to by the poets, one of whom, named 

 Thomas Moore, describes 



" A child at play, 

 Among the rosy wild flowers singing, 



As rosy and as wild as they, 

 Chasing with eager hands and eyes 

 The beautiful blue Butterfles 

 That fluttered round the jasmine stems, 

 Like winged flowers or flying gems." 



In another part of the same poem, which is called 

 " Lalla Rookh," the name of an Eastern princess, we 

 find a scene described in which 



H Sparkle such rainbow Butterflies, 



That one might fancy the rich flowers 

 That round them in the sun lay sighing, 

 Had been by magic all set flying." 



But let us get on with our lesson. Butterflies, then, 

 we have learned, are a day-flying genus, called Papilio, 

 of the Lepidopterous or mealy-winged order of that 



