Our Common Butterflies 



The graceful flight and beauty of adult butterflies have made 

 them the most popular of insects, but in their youth they have little 

 beauty and can only crawl and eat. They are "horrid caterpillars," 

 poisoned by gardeners and shunned by all except the few who see 

 in them the possibilities of maturity. However, not all caterpillars 

 develop into butterflies; the majorit}^ become moths, and vSome creatures 

 which strongly resemble caterpillars are really quite different from 

 either butterflies or moths. 



A YOUNG PAPILIO 

 Showing the two sorts of legs 



A useful distinguishing characteristic of insects is the possession 

 of three pairs of true legs. Nothing else which the amateur is likely 

 to notice has just this number. Spiders have four pairs and centipedes 

 have many; they are not insects. Now a caterpillar appeay^s to have 

 more than three pairs of legs, but it will be seen upon close examination 

 that the three front pairs are the only ones which are jointed. The 

 other "legs" are not true legs but merely fleshy props. Young leaf- 

 feeding beetles do not have these props and young saw-flies (relatives 

 of wasps) have five or more pairs in the middle of the body, whereas 

 young butterflies have four pairs and a pair of claspers at the hind end 

 of the body. 



