THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



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Scales of Lepidoptera highly magnified. 



THE SCALES OF LEPIDOPTERA AND COLEOPTERA. 



By Joseph Anderson, Jun., Presi dent of the Chichester History Society. 



Why is the Butterfly such a general favourite ? 

 'or the same reason that we delight in the tail of 

 le Peacock, in the Humming bird — that " spark - 

 ng epitome of life, and light " — and in flowers, 

 'his it is. What sweet sounds are to the ear, such 

 •e colours to the eye ; they are in fact the 

 music " of the eye. And what wonder that we 

 lory in them, for is not light the artist ? Light 

 le very antithesis of darkness, blackness, and 

 lelancholy gloom. Would we acquire purity of 

 iste, and right judgment in colours we must study 

 lem as exhibited in natural objects — leaves, 

 owers, clouds, and certainly not least, in insect", 

 o conspicuous are the Lepidoptera for wealth of 

 Dlour, that they thrust themselves on the attention 

 f even the most careless and indifferent observer, 

 .nd perhaps our earliest lessons in the beautiful 

 re learnt from Butterflies and Flowers. It has 

 een well remarked that the greatest thing a human 

 oul ever does in this world is to see something, 

 nd to tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds 

 f people can talk for one who can think, but 

 lousands can think for one who can see. The 

 arth is " drowned " in beauty, and how much is 

 ie pleasure of the country stroll enhanced when 

 re have eyes to see and appreciate it ! The vast 

 Cathedral of Nature is full of Holy Scriptures, 

 nd shapes of vast mysterious meaning. It is 

 leasure, it is wisdom to worship and to read 

 lerein. Let us then occupy a few minutes in 

 onsidering the production of colours in the wings 

 f Butterflies and Moths, and a section of the great 

 rder of Coleoptera or Beetles. 



Supposing we rub the wing of a Butterfly or 

 Moth between our finger and thumb, we find them 

 covered with a very fine dust, and, if we continue 

 to rub, we can remove all this dust till the wing 

 becomes transparent. Place some of the dust 

 under the microscope, and we see that it is of varied 

 and elegant shapes, alike, however, in this respect 

 that each particle possesses a tiny stalk or pedicle. 

 Now examine a small portion of the alar or mem- 

 brane : it is covered with minute holes. These 

 are sockets for the little stalks into which they fit, 

 and are thus attached to the wings. Furthermore 

 from these stalks proceed tiny rootlets which 

 ramify the wings, from which it is inferred that the 

 scales are nourished in a somewhat similar manner 

 to hairs and the epidermal coverings of animals. 

 We proceed to investigate the scales again more 

 closely, because of this we are certain, that in some 

 way or other depends upon them the beautiful 

 colours with which the wings are adorned. There 

 are two theories. Some say that there is no 

 colouring matter in them whatever, but that the 

 colours are due solely to the decomposition and 

 interference of light, just as we know the rain- 

 bow is caused by the rays of the sun being "split 

 up " by the rain drops, which act as little prism?, 

 and reflected on the dark back-ground of the storm- 

 cloud. Others maintain that there are pigment 

 grains in each scale. Most likely by adopting 

 both views we arrive at the truth. At one time 

 we were told that each little particle of dust which 

 covered the wings of a Butterfly or Moth was in 

 reality a feather, similar to (though of course 



