LEPIDOPTERA. 
(Butterflies and Moths.) 
Two pairs of large wings, of nearly equal size ; the body and wings densely 
clothed in hairs and scales. Antennae of varied form, usually simple, 
with a varying arrangement of cilia, never serrate or lamellate or 
bristle-shaped. Mandibles absent (except Micropterygidae). mouth- 
parts in the form of a tubular proboscis and palpi 
Metamorphosis complete, the larva with short biting mouthparts, with 
two to five pairs of suckerfeet, adapted to living openly on plants or, 
more rareiy, in them. The imago obtains its food from flowers or 
plant sap, the larva is herbivorous on or in plants, very rarely pre¬ 
daceous. In a large number the imaginal life is brief and no food is 
taken; in others it is longer ; in all, the larval life is comparatively 
long and active. 
Lepidoptera are recognisable readily in practically all stages and 
the characters are sufficiently distinct. They include insects of small 
size as well as insects with an enormous wing span, though of no 
great weight. The immense weight of chitin which characterises 
the giants among the beetles is here replaced by an extensive wing 
area, so large that some of the largest moths measure as much as 
eight to twelve inches across the wings. 
There is a far greater uniformity of structure, facies and appearance 
in this order than in any other and, except in cases where members of 
other orders are deliberately mimicked, there can be no doubt as to the 
immediate recognition in the field of a butterfly or moth both in the lar¬ 
val, pupal and imaginal stage. Eggs are of three main types, the upright 
domeshaped butterfly egg, the rounded moth egg, the flat scale-like egg 
of the Microlepidopteron, the first two being often sculptured, the last 
reticulate. Larvse are of one type, with a distinct head, with three 
pairs of legs and from two to five pairs of suckerfeet, with a chitinous 
plate behind the head, with a number of chitinous tubercles on 
each segment, which bear hairs. It is impossible to give characters by 
