354 MOTIONS OF INSECTS. 
while by hunger, and at another by love or maternal 
solicitude.-—The distance to which some males will fly 
is astonishing. That of one of the silk-worm moths 
(Bombyx Paphia, ¥.) is stated to travel sometimes 
more than a hundred miles in this way *. Our most beau- 
tiful butterfly, the purple emperor (Papilio Iris, L.), 
when he makes his first appearance fixes his throne on 
the summit of some lofty oak, from whence in sunny 
days, unattended by his empress, who does not fly, he 
takes his excursions. Launching into the air from one 
of the highest twigs, he mounts often to so great a 
height as to become invisible. When the sun is at the 
meridian his loftiest flights take place; and about four 
in the afternoon he resumes his station of repose?.— 
The large bodies of hawk-moths (Sphinx, F.) are car- 
ried by wings remarkably strong both as to nervures 
and texture, and their flight is proportionably rapid 
and direct. That of butterflies is by dipping and rising 
alternately, so as to form a zig-zag line with vertical 
angles, which the animal often describes with a skipping 
motion, so that each zig-zag consists of smaller ones. 
This doubtless renders it more difficult for the birds to 
take them as they fly; and thus the male, when paired, 
often flits away with the female. 
Amongst the Neuropterous tribes the most conspi- 
cuous insects are the dragon-flies (Libellulide), which 
—their metamorphosis, habits, mode of life, and charac- 
ters considered—form a distinct natural order of them- 
selves. Their four wings, which are nearly equal in 
size, are a complete and beautiful piece of net-work, re- 
4 Tann, Trans. vii. 40. 
> Haworth Lepidopt. Brit. i, 19. 
