928 Marvels of the Universe 
wings on their upper surfaces. The abdomen really consists of nine rings, although only seven or 
eight (according to whether it is a male or female insect respectively) are usually visible, the hidden 
segments being more or less withdrawn into the body. 
Both thorax and abdomen are thickly clothed with hairs, some moths being distinctly tufted 
along the back; and in butterflies, the males sometimes possess clasping organs at the tail. In 
those moths which deposit their eggs in the crevices between the bark of trees, and in similar situa- 
tions, the females are provided with a protruding ovipositor. The spiracles, or breathing-holes, 
through which they take in air for respiratory purposes, are arranged along the side of the body, 
but are generally hidden from view amongst their fur-like covering. 
The legs need no special reference, as they are of the usual five-jointed type characteristic of 
insects generally. In some families of butterflies the front pair of legs are more or less rudimentary, 
and particularly so in the males. They may be naked, or covered with short or long hairs, and the 
Photo by] [V. J. Ward, FLEW. 
THE ANTENNA OF THE PALE TUSSOCK MOTH. 
A part of it has been magnified twenty-five times to show the elaborate jointing of the main stem and the delicate fringe 
of hairs which supplements each minute branch. 
fully-developed leg terminates with a foot bearing a pair of claws, which sometimes are forked at 
their tips. 
Finally, we have the wings to consider, organs which do not offer any very unusual structural 
details considered from an insect point of view, excepting that they are beautifully clothed with 
hairs and scales. They are really transparent, but are covered on both sides with innumerable 
opaque-coloured scales, and which, when handling a moth or butterfly, we rub off as “ dust ”’ upon 
the fingers. Eyen these tiny scales often possess a most complex structure, although morphologic- 
ally considered they have to be regarded as nothing more than minute flattened hairs. 
These minute scales are arranged on the wings in regular order, like the tiles on the roof of a house, 
being attached to the wing-membrane by little stalks, or pedicels, the latter being implanted in 
tiny cups. Although they are placed in lines, yet scales of different colours are so situated as to 
form circles (sometimes concentric circles), spots, streaks, irregular blotches and bands, etc., and 
in this manner a kind of mosaic design is built up, producing the markings which often prove so 
fascinating on the wings of these insects. 
