INTRODUCTION. 
57 
sliape than among butterflies ; indeed, it has been 
asserted that they assume a different form in each 
species. This, howerer, is by no means the case, 
but they are frequently dissimilar on different parts 
of the same individual. Many of them are so long 
and slender that they have the appearance of hairs, 
but the application even of a faint magnifying power 
shows that they are more or less dilated at the tip, 
and frequently bifid, trifid, or palmate. Of this 
nature are the kinds composing the hair-like tufts 
and crests on many of the noctuidm, as may be seen 
by examining the gamma-moth (Plttsia gamma J, 
a common species in most parts of the country. 
Tire proboscis is apparently of the same structure 
as in the day-flying tribes, and presents nothing 
peculiar in its appearance.' It is seldom of great 
length, and in many instances it is merely rudi- , 
mentary, while in others it is altogether wanting. 
The Swifts or Ghost-moths ( Hepiali J, the Goat- 
moth, and many others, are so circumstanced, and 
they are probably in consequence incapable of taldng 
any nutriment. Moths are occasionally obseiwed to 
feed on solid substances, such as sugar ; this they 
are enabled to do in the same manner as flies 
( Diptera ), by discharging a liquid from their trunk, 
which softens and dissolves the particles till they 
become sufficiently fluid to be absorbed. 
Tlie palpi generally consists of three joints, but 
in some cases, as in the genus Liihosia, they are 
only two jointed. These organs are sometimes very 
diminutive, but in general they are well developed. 
