570 ARTICULATA. 
This term is derived froin the Greek lepis^ a scale, and^:)^em, wings, and refers to the scales on 
the wings of moths and butterflies, these insects constituting the order. These must be ranked 
among the most elegant of the denizens of the air. The delicacy of the forms of many species, 
the charming contrast of color often exhibited in their wings, and the gem-like brilliancy of 
others, must always render them most attractive objects. " Moths and Butterflies," says Professor 
Jaeger, " in comparison with the other orders of insects, are well entitled to the rank of nobility, 
for among them Ave find no impudent beggars and spongers, as among the flies ; no parasites as 
in some of the wingless insects ; no working class, as among the hymenopterous insects — bees, 
wasps, and gall-flies ; no musicians, as among the family of crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, and 
cicades ; but all of these are aristocratic idlers, who, dressed with silver, and gold, and purple, 
and ornamented with ever-varying splendor, have naught to do but to seek their own pleasure, 
and charm away their brief existence, fluttering from bough to bough, and satiating themselves 
with the sweet nectar of flowers." 
The structure of the mouth is almost sufiicient to distinguish a lepidopterous insect from one 
belonging to any other order. The suctorial organ consists of a spirally-rolled trunk attached to 
the lower part of the front of the head, and reposing, when coiled up, between the hairy palpi. 
The wings are four in number, membraneous, generally flat, furnished with branching nervures. 
They are usually covered with minute scales, popularly called feathers, which are, in reality, only a 
peculiar form of the hairs with which the wings of most insects are furnished. They are set 
very close together, usually more or less flattened, and laid over one another in the manner of tiles 
upon the roof of a house. Their form varies greatly in" different species, and even on diff"erent 
parts of the wings of the same species. It is entirely to these scales that the beautiful colors of 
