xii PREFACE 



fully chiselled and sculptured, and each with a 

 slender little stalk at the base. And if you look 

 at a piece of the butterfly's wings through the 

 microscope, you will see that these scales are 

 arranged upon it in rows, which overlap one 

 another just like the slates on the roof of a house. 



All the colour of a butterfly's wing is in these 

 scales, and if you rub them off you will find that 

 the wing itself is as transparent as that of a 

 bluebottle-fly or a bee. 



Then a great many butterflies and moths have 

 a "trunk" or "proboscis" coiled up underneath 

 the head. This is really a long tube, and when 

 the insects are hungry they poke it down into 

 a flower, and suck up the nectar through it. 

 You can see this trunk quite easily if you look 

 sideways at such a butterfly as a "scarlet 

 admiral" or a "peacock." 



Then there is just one thing more. 



No doubt you would like to know how to tell 

 butterflies from moths. Well, just look at their 

 feelers or "antennae," as they are often called. 

 You will see that those of butterflies are thickened 

 at the very tips, while those of moths are not. 

 Besides this, the body of a butterfly is nipped in 

 at the middle much more than that of a moth. 

 And when a butterfly is at rest it always folds 

 its wings together over its back, while moths 

 nearly always spread them out, or allow them 

 to hang down, or wrap them round their bodies. 



THEODORE WOOD. 



