“It is natural that the poets, who were always looking out for beautiful things, should seize upon such a subject as the butterflies, and we therefore find them often alluded to in poetry. Spencer, an old English poet, thus describes one of these insects,—and it is a very good description too:
‘The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,
The silken down with which his back is dight,
His broad, outstretched horns, his airy thighs,
His glorious colors, and his glistening eyes.’
“The moths have also attracted the attention of the poet; and as they are dazzled by a lamp at night, and frequently fly into it and scorch themselves to death, they have been often compared to giddy youth, who rush thoughtlessly into dangerous pleasures, and are thus lost forever.
“The butterflies and moths have not only four wings and six legs, and two horns or feelers, but they have a little tube or proboscis, with which they suck in the juice of flowers. When this is not in use, it is nicely rolled up, and packed beneath the head of the animal, under a hairy cover made for the purpose.
“When examined with a glass, the body of the insect appears to be covered with hair, and the fine brilliant dust upon the wings is found to consist of minute scales.
“But the eyes of butterflies, are, perhaps, their most remarkable quality. Some of these are simple, while others are composed of a collection of magnifying lenses. It is said that in some butterflies the eye consists of sixteen thousand lenses. If so, it would seem that when a butterfly of this sort looks at a person, he sees sixteen thousand images of him! Of the butterfly tribe, some live upon the honey of flowers, others upon the leaves of plants, and others upon dead wood. Some of them subsist upon animal substances, and are very destructive to woollen cloths, furs and feathers. The honey-comb moth we have already mentioned as often infesting the bee-hive, and preying upon wax.
“While the butterflies, in their perfect state, have always attracted the attention and excited the interest of mankind, the wonderful steps by which they reach their perfect state have not formed a less interesting subject of observation. Most insects have three states of existence; they are first eggs, then worms, and then the winged and perfect insect.