6 NATURAL HISTORY. 
beautiful than fuch as are bred at home; and we can eafily admit thé 
beauty of the butterfly, fince we are thus freed from the damage of the 
caterpillar, It has been the amufement of fome to colleét thefe animals 
from different, parts of the world; or to breed them from caterpillars 
at home. Thefe they arrange in fyltematic order; or difpofe fo as t0 
make ftriking and agreeable piétures; and all muft grant, that this 
Specious idlenefs is far preferable to that unhappy flate which is pro- 
duced by a total want of employment. 
The wings of butterflies, as was obferved, fully diftinguifh them 
from flies of every other kind. hey are four in number; and thoug 
two of them be cut off, the animal can fly with the two’ others remait” 
ing. They are, in their own fubftance, tran{parent; but owe their opa- 
city to the beautiful duft with which they are covered; and which ha’ 
been likened, by fome naturalifts, to the feathers of birds; by others 
to the fcales of fifhes ; as their imaginations were difpofed to catch thé 
.xefemblance. In faét, if we regard the wing of a butterfly with a goo 
Imicrofcope, we fhall perceive it ftudded over with a variety of little 
grains of different dimenfions and forms, generally fupported upon # 
foot-ftalk, regularly laid upon the whole furface. Nothing can exceed 
the beautiful and regular arrangement of thefe little fubftances : which 
thus ferve to paint the butterfly’s wing, like the tiles of an houfe 
‘Thofe of one rank are a little covered by thofe that follow: they aré 
of many figures: on one part of the wing may be feen a fucceflion 0 
oval ftuds; on another part, a clufter of ftuds, each in the form of at 
heart: in one place they refemble a hand open; and in another they 
are long or triangular; while all are interfperfed with taller ftuds, tha’ 
grow between the reft like mufhrooms upon a flalk. ‘The wing itfelf 19 
compofed of feveral thick nerves, which render the confiruétion very. 
Rrong, though light; and though it be covered over with thoufands 
thefe feales or ftuds, yet its weight is very little increafed by the num” 
per. The animal is with eafe enabled to fupport itfelf a long while if 
air, although its flight be not very graceful. When it defigns to fly 
a confiderable diftance, it afcends and defcends alternately ; goings 
fometimes to the right, fometimes to the Jeft, without any appai ent 
reafon. Upon clofer examination, however, it will be found that ® 
flies thus irregularly in purfuit of its mate; and as dogs bait and qual 
ter the ground in purfuit of their game, fo thefe infects traverfe the ail 
in queft of their mates whom they can difcover at more than a mile’ 
diftance. ; 
' If we profecute our defcription of the butterfly, the animal may bé } 
divided into three parts; the head, the corfelet, and the body. t 
‘ The body is the hinder part of the butterfly, and is compofed © 
rings, which are generally concealed under long hair, with which tha! 
part of the animal is clothed. The corfelet is more folid than the ey: 
of the body, becaufe the fore wings, and the legs are fixed therei™ 
‘The legs are fix in number, although four only are made ufe of by tP® 
animal ; the two fore legs being often fo much concealed in the lo® 
hhair of the body; that it is fometimes difficult to difecover them. 
‘we exatnine thefe parts internally, we thall find the fame fet of velle# 
in the butterfly that we obferved in the caterpillar, but with this great 
difference, that as the blood, or humours, in the caterpillar, circulate? 
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