CHRYSALIS OF THE MONARCH
Fig. 7
CHRYSALIS OF THE PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL
Papilio philenor
Butterflies form one of the two suborders of the order Lepidoptera, or “scaly-winged insects.” There are many orders of insects. Lord Walsingham some years ago in an address stated that there were not less than three million species of insects in this little world of ours. Tens of thousands of species of Lepidoptera have already been named and classified. Of butterflies there are twenty thousand species and varieties known, and of moths there are about five times as many. In the United States we have about six hundred and fifty species of butterflies, and six thousand species of moths. New species are still being turned up. Adam did not give names to all living things. He left his job unfinished, and “the sons of Adam” since his day have been carrying on the good work, and most vigorously during the last hundred years. The work of naming and describing species new to science is going on valorously at the present time. The last volume of “The Zoölogical Record,” which has just been issued, shows that in 1913 nearly three thousand strictly scientific books and papers about insects were published, not to speak of the innumerable publications of a popular character upon the same subject which were printed during that year. The same volume shows that no less than two hundred and twenty-five new species of butterflies alone were described during the year, besides a host of so-called varieties. The new species were principally from Africa, Asia, and South America.
As I have said, butterflies are “scaly-winged insects.” Anyone who has ever taken a moth or butterfly into his fingers has observed that the creature in its struggles leaves behind a dustlike substance. Examined under a microscope, this is seen to be composed of minute scales. Magnified forms of some of these scales are represented in Figure 1; while in Figure 2 there is shown a little patch of the scales on the wing of the common Cabbage butterfly, they being arranged somewhat as the shingles upon the roof of a house, or the scales upon the sides of a fish.
Fig. 8
CATERPILLAR OF THE MONARCH