8 NATURAL HISTORY. 
to flower, as the greateft number of them fly by night, and expand 
the molt beautiful colouring, at thofe hours when there is no {pectator. 
This tribe of infe@ts has therefore been divided into Diurnal and Noétur- 
nal Flies; or, more properly fpeaking, into Butterflies and Moths: 
the one only flying by day, the other moft ufually on the wing in the 
night. They may be eafily diftinguifhed from each other, by their 
horns or feelers: thofe of the butterfly being clubbed, or knobbed at 
the end; ‘thofe of the moth, tapering finer and finer to a point. To 
exprefs it technicaily—the feelers of the butterflies are clavated ; thofe 
ef moths, are filiform. ; : 
The butterflies, as well as the moths, employ the fhort life afligned” 
them, in a variety of enjoyments. Their whole time is {pent either in 
gett of food, which every flower offers; or in purfuit of the female, 
whofe approach they can often perceive at avery great diftance. Their 
‘ fagacity in this particular is not lefs aftonifhing than true; but by what 
fenfe they are thus capable of diftinguifhing each other at fuch diftan- 
ces, is not eafy to conceive. It cannot be by the fight, fince fuch {mall 
objects as they are mult be utterly imperceptible, at half the diftance 
at which they perceive each other: it can fcarcely be by the fenfe of 
fmelling, fince the animal has no organs for that purpofe. Whatever 
be their powers of perception, certain it is, that the male, after ha- 
ving fluttered, as if carelefsly, about for fome time, is feen to take 
wing, and go forward, fometimes for two miles together, in a dire& 
line to where the female is perched on a flower. 
The general rule among infeéts is, that the female is larger than the 
male; and this obtains particularly in the tribe 1 am defcribing. The 
body of the male is fmaller and flenderer; that of the female, more 
thick and oval. Previous to the junétion of thefe animals, they are 
feen {porting in the air, purfuing and flying from each other, and pre- 
paring, by a mock combat, for the more important bufinefs of their 
lives. If they be difturbed while united, the female flies off with the 
male on her back, who feems entirely paflive upon the occafion. 
But the females of many moths and butterflies feem to have aflumed 
their airy form for no other reafon but to fecundate their eggs, and 
lay them. They are not feen fluttering about in queft of food, or @ 
mate: all that paffes, during their fhort lives, is a jundion with the 
male of about half an hour; after which they depofit their eggs, and 
die, without taking any nourifhment, or feeking any. It may be ob- 
ferved, however, that in all the females of this tribe, they are impreg- 
nated by the male by one aperture, and lay their eggs by another. 
The eggs of female butterflies are difpofed in the body like a bed of 
chaplets; which, when excluded, are ufually oval, and of a whitifh 
colour: fome, however, are quite round; ard others flatted, like @ 
turnip. The covering or fhell of the egg, though folid, is thin and 
tranfparent ; and in proportion as the caterpillar grows within the egg» 
the colours change, and are diftributed differently. The butterfly feems 
very well inftruéted by pature in its choice of the plant, or the lealy 
where it fhall depofit its burthea. Each egg contains but one cater- 
pillar ; and it is requifite that this little animal, when excluded, fhould 
be near its peculiar provifion. The butterfly, therefore, is careful t© 
lace her brood only upon thofe plants that afford good nourifhment 
to its pofterity. Though the little winged animal has been fed bee 
5 i ee : pos 
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