Part 15

We must dwell longer on the head. It is generally rounded, compressed in front, longer than it is broad, and furnished with fine or scaly hairs. The important organs of which this part is the seat are the eyes, the antennæ, the palpi, and the proboscis or trunk.

The eyes are more or less spherical, surrounded by hairs, and composed of innumerable facettes. Colours are seen on these as various as those of the rainbow. But the colour which serves as a base to all, is black in some, grey in others; then again there are different gold or bronze colours of the greatest splendour, inclining sometimes to red, sometimes to yellow, sometimes to green. On the compound eye of a butterfly as many as 17,325 facettes have been counted. Simple eyes, or stemmata, are moreover observed in certain species, and are generally more or less hidden by scales.

The antennæ are situated near the upper rim or border of each eye. Réaumur has pointed out six principal shapes. One terminates in a little _knob_, and belongs to the butterflies. The others are variously shaped, and belong to the moths. Some are prismatic, or like beading. And lastly, others are shaped like feathers. We represent, in Fig. 137, the different forms of the antennæ, which Réaumur collected together in plates 8 and 9 of his fifth Memoir.[46]

[46] "Sur les parties extérieures des papillons," tome i., p. 197.

The palpi are four in number, two maxillary and two labial. The first are generally excessively small; one can only ascertain their existence by the aid of a strong magnifying glass: the second are in general very apparent, straight, cylindrical, covered with scales, and formed of three joints, of which the last is often very small and sometimes very pointed. They also sometimes bristle with stiff or silky hairs.

The trunk is placed exactly between the two eyes. As long as the butterfly does not want to take nourishment, the trunk remains rolled in a spiral. Some are so short, that they scarcely make one turn and a half or two turns; some larger sized make three turns and a half or four turns; lastly, some very long are curled as many as eight or ten times.

This is how the butterfly makes use of its trunk: When fluttering around a flower, it will very soon settle on or quite close to it. The trunk is then brought forward entirely or almost entirely unrolled; very soon afterwards it is almost straightened, then directed downwards, and plunged into the flower. Sometimes the insect draws it out a moment after, curves it, twists it a little, and sometimes even curls it partially up. Immediately it straightens it again, to plunge it a second time into the same flower. It repeats the same manoeuvre seven or eight times, and then flies on to another flower.

This trunk, of which the butterfly makes such good use, is composed of two filaments more or less long, horny, concave in their interior surfaces, and fastened together by their edges. When cut transversely, one sees, according to Réaumur,[47] that the interior is composed of three small rings. Consequently, there are three canals in the trunk: one central, the other two lateral (Fig. 138). Are all these three used to conduct the juice of flowers into the butterfly's body? Réaumur has made some very interesting observations on this subject, by observing a moth which was sucking a lump of sugar whilst its portrait was being taken.

[47] Planche 9, Fig. 10, 5e Mémoire, "Sur les parties extérieures des papillons."

"I held in one hand," says Réaumur, "a powerful magnifying glass, which I brought near to that part of the trunk I wished to examine; I was sometimes half a minute, or nearly a minute, without perceiving anything, after which I saw clearly a little column of liquid mounting quickly along the whole length of the trunk. Often this column appeared to be intersected by little balls, which seemed to be globules of air which had been drawn up with the liquid.

"This liquid ascended thus during three or four seconds, and then ceased. At the end of an interval of a greater number of seconds, or sometimes after an interval as short, I saw some fresh liquid mounting up along the trunk. But it was straight up the middle of the trunk that it seemed to ascend.

"The Author of Nature has given to insects means of working, which, though very simple, we cannot divine, and which often we are not able even to perceive. Whilst I was observing the trunk of our butterfly, between the columns of liquid which I saw ascending, there were, but more rarely, times when I saw, on the contrary, liquid descending from the base of the trunk to the point. The descending liquid occupied half or two-thirds of the tube. It was no longer difficult to perceive how the butterfly is able to nourish itself on honey, the thickest syrup, and even the most solid sugar. The fluid it sends down is probably very liquid; it drives against the sugar, moistens, and dissolves it. The butterfly pumps this liquid up again when it is charged with sugar, and conducts it along as far as the base of its trunk, and beyond it."

The life of the perfect insect is generally very short. Like nearly all other insects, they die as soon as they have propagated their species. The female lays her eggs, which vary in shape, on the plant which is to nourish her progeny. The colour is also very various, and passes through all sorts of shades. At the moment they are laid, many are covered with a gummy substance, insoluble in water, which serves to stick them on the plant.

In some species the mother lays her eggs on the trunks of trees, and covers them with down or with the hairs which clothe her abdomen, so as to preserve them from cold and damp. She may also hide them entirely under a whitish foamy substance. Some do not lay more than a hundred eggs; others lay some thousands.

To bring the history of the Lepidoptera to an end, it only remains for us to give a sketch of their classification, and to point out some species remarkable, either on account of their beauty or their utility.

We see during the day butterflies flying in our gardens, in meadows full of flowers, or in the alleys of woods. Towards evening, at the sombre hour of twilight, the stroller is sometimes surprised to see pass near him large moths, with a heavy and unequal flight; or, if we go into a garden on a beautiful calm summer's night, bearing a light, we see a crowd of moths flying from all parts towards it.

It is on account of these different hours at which the Lepidoptera show themselves, that naturalists for a long time divided them into diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal. This division was simple, convenient, and seemed founded on Nature. Unfortunately, the _night_ fliers of the old authors do not all fly by night: some species, classed by the old naturalists among the crepuscular, or nocturnal, show themselves in the very middle of the day, seeking their food in the hottest rays of the sun. In the regions near the poles they appear during the day, and in other countries they are more or less friends of the twilight.

So as not to multiply methodical divisions, we will confine ourselves to classing the Lepidoptera into two sections.

The first section contains those _which fly during the day, which have club-shaped antennæ, and which have their four wings entirely free, and standing perpendicularly[48] when the insect is at rest_. They are called Butterflies, or Rhopalocera. This section is divided into a number of families, which comprise many genera. We will content ourselves with calling the attention of the reader to some of the most remarkable of these groups, and to those species which, either on account of their beauty or abundance, strike, or ought to strike, the attention of every one.

[48] There are exceptions to this.--ED.

In the family of the _Papilionidi_, we will mention the genera _Papilio_, to which belong the Swallow-tailed Butterfly (_Papilio machaon_), _Papilio podalirius_, &c., and _Parnassius_, of which we will notice _Parnassius Apollo_, and _Parnassius Mnemosyne_.

The swallow-tailed butterfly is found plentifully in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk and Suffolk, and very commonly in the environs of Paris. It is seen from the beginning of May till towards the middle of June; then from the end of July till September. It frequents gardens, woods, and, above all, fields of lucerne. It is easily taken when settled, particularly at sunset.

This is one of the largest and the most beautiful of the European butterflies. The wings are variegated with yellow and black; the eyes, antennæ, and trunk are black. The body is yellow on the sides and underneath, and black above. The front wings have rounded edges; the hind ones, on the contrary, are notched, and one of these notches is prolonged into a sort of tail. The first are black, spotted and striped with yellow; the second have their upper part and middle yellow, with some touches only of black. Near the margin is a broad black band, dusted with blue; lastly, six yellow spots in the form of a crescent run along the border, and end in a magnificent eye of a reddish colour, bordered with blue.

The caterpillar of this species is large, smooth, and of a beautiful light green, with a transverse black band on each ring. These bands are sprinkled with orange spots. It lives on the fennel, carrot, and other Umbelliferæ. If teased, it thrusts from the first ring after the head a fleshy, orange-coloured tentacle. The chrysalis, attached to a stalk of grass, is sometimes light green, sometimes greyish.

In the low Alps, on the plains near the environs of Digne and Barcelonette, is found in the months of May and July the _Papilio Alexanor_ (Fig. 141), and in Corsica and Sardinia is found the _Papilio hospiton_, a rare species, nearly related to our swallow-tailed butterfly, but which we will here content ourselves with mentioning.

The _Papilio podalirius_ (Fig. 142) is in form very analogous to _Papilio machaon_. It is of a rather pale yellow colour, marked with black, as if singed. The lower wings have tails longer and narrower than those of the latter, and are magnificently ornamented with blue crescent-shaped spots and an orange-coloured eye bordered below with blue. This beautiful species is not rare at Montmorency, at Ile-Adam, and at St. Germain. It is said to have been taken in England, and is called the scarce Swallow-tail, but its capture is considered as very questionable. It appears for the first time at the end of April, and for the second in July and August. The _Parnassius Apollo_ (Fig. 143), is a beautiful butterfly, which appears in June and July, and is found commonly enough in the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the Cévennes. Its wings are of a yellowish white. The upper part of the fore wings presents five nearly round black spots; the base and the costa, or front edge, of these wings are sprinkled with black atoms. The upper part of the hind wings presents two eyes of a vermilion red, the inner border furnished with whitish hairs amply dotted with black, and marked towards the extremity with two black spots. The under part of the fore wings is very similar to the upper. But the under part of the hind wings presents four red spots bordered by black, forming a transverse band near the base. The body is black, furnished with russety hairs, and the antennæ white, with the club black.

The larva of the Apollo lives on saxifrages. To affect its transformation it surrounds itself with a slight network of silk in which are confined one or more leaves. This caterpillar is thick, smooth, cylindrical, and covered with small slightly hairy warts, and ornamented on the first ring with a fleshy tentacle in the shape of a Y. The chrysalis is conical, sprinkled over with a bluish efflorescence resembling the bloom on a plum. The _Parnassius Mnemosyne_ is found in the month of June in the mountains of Dauphiné, in Switzerland, Sicily, Hungary, Sweden, and in the Pyrenees.

In the family of the _Pieridi_ we will mention many species remarkable in different ways, such as _Pieris cratægi_, the black-veined White, _Pieris brassicæ_, the Cabbage Butterfly, _Pieris napi_, _Pieris callidice_, _Anthocharis cardamines_, the Orange-tip, _Rhodocera_ (_Gonepteryx_) _rhamni_, and _Colias edusa_, or Clouded-yellow. _Pieris cratægi_ is white both above and below; the veins only of the wings are black, and become a little broader at the edge of the upper wings. These black veins on a rather transparent white ground make this butterfly resemble a gauze veil, hence its French name, _le gaze_. It flies in spring and summer in meadows and gardens, but is not generally common in England. In the first volume of his "Travels in the North of Russia," Pallas relates that he saw insects of this species flying in great numbers in the environs of Winofka, and that he at first took them for flakes of snow. The _Pieris cratægi_ fixes itself at sunset on flowers, where it is easily taken by the hand. During the day, on the contrary, it is difficult to catch. The larva, black at first, afterwards assumes short yellow and white hairs, but it varies much. They live in companies, under a silky web, in which they pass the winter. The leaves of the hawthorn, the sloe, the cherry tree, and of many other fruit trees, serve them for food. The pupa, yellow or white, and sometimes of both colours with little stripes and spots of black, is angular and terminated in front by a blunt point.

The _Pieris brassicæ_ (Fig. 144), or Cabbage Butterfly, is perhaps the commonest of all butterflies. From the beginning of spring till the end of autumn one sees it flying about everywhere, in the gardens, sometimes near and almost in the interior of towns. It is of a dull white, spotted and veined with black, and it can be seen at a long distance, when flitting from flower to flower, in a meadow or garden. And so children wage desperate war against this flying prey. The pursuit of the cabbage butterfly through the alleys of parks, along the outskirts of woods, or on the green turf of meadows, is the first joy and the first passion of children in the country.

The caterpillar (Fig. 145) is of a yellowish green, or rather greenish yellow, with three yellow longitudinal stripes separated by little black points, from each of which springs a whitish hair. It lives in groups on the cabbages in gardens, and on many other Cruciferæ. It is so voracious that it consumes in a day more than double its own weight, and, as it multiplies very quickly, commits great ravages in the vegetable garden. Its pupa (Fig. 145) is of an ashy white, spotted with black and yellow.

The _Pieris rapæ_, or Small White Butterfly, differs but little from the preceding except in size. The caterpillar, which lives on the cabbage, turnip, mignonette, nasturtium, &c., is green, with three yellow lines. It does not do these much harm. In France it is called _le ver du coeur_ (the heartworm), because it penetrates in between leaves pressed closely together.

The _Pieris napi_ (Fig. 146), the Green-veined White, is very like the two preceding, but the wings, the lower one especially, have underneath broad veins, or bands, of a greenish colour. The _Pieris callidice_, the wings of which are white spotted with black, is common in the Alps of France, in Savoy and Switzerland, and in the Pyrenees. Its caterpillar lives near the regions of perpetual snow, on small cruciferous plants.

The Orange-tips have, in the males, the extremity of the upper wings of a beautiful orange yellow. The rest of the wings is white in the only British species (Fig. 147), which is to be seen in meadows from the end of April till the end of May, and sulphur-coloured in some other species.

One species, extremely common, and which appears with but short interruption from the beginning of spring till the end of autumn, is the Brimstone Butterfly (_Rhodocera_ [_Gonepteryx_] _rhamni_). The wings are a lemon yellow, with an orange-coloured spot in the middle of each, and the front border terminated in a series of very small iron-coloured spots. The body of the butterfly is black with silvery hairs.

The _Colias edusa_, or Clouded-yellow, so called from the colour of the upper part of its wings, is not uncommon in meadows and fields in early autumn throughout Europe. The upper side of the wings is of a marigold yellow; the upper ones having towards the middle a large spot of black. At the extremity of each wing is a broad black band, continuous in the case of the male, interrupted by yellow spots in the female. The back of the body is yellow; the legs, as well as the antennæ, rosy.

The family of the _Lycænidæ_ comprises a great number of species, some of which we will mention.

The _Theclæ_, or Hair-streaks, which the French call _Petits Porte-queues_, on account of the tails which grace the hind margin of the hind wings, inhabit woods, their larvæ feeding, according to the species, on the birch, the oak, the plum-tree, the bramble, &c.

The _Thecla betulæ_ (Fig. 148), or Brown Hair-streak, is somewhat rare in this country.

The Purple Hair-streak (_Thecla quercus_, Fig. 149), which Geoffroy calls the "_Porte-queue bleu à une bande blanche_," is not rare in woods; but it is very difficult to catch, as it flies nearly always by couples at the tops of trees. We still further represent here the Black Hair-streak (_Thecla pruni_, Fig. 150), and the Green Hair-streak (_Thecla rubi_, Fig. 151).

In the meadows are found the Copper Butterflies; butterflies with wings of a bright, tawny colour, with black marks on the upper side. Such is the _Polyommatus_ (_Lycæna_) _phlæas_ (Fig. 152), which is very common from the end of May until late in the autumn. The upper part of the wing is coppery, spotted with black, the under side of a grey colour, sprinkled with small eyes, and bordered by a zone of tawny spots. Linnæus counted forty-two little black eyes on the under side of the wings.

We also figure _Polyommatus_ (_Lycæna_) _virgaureæ_ (Fig. 153), and _Polyommatus_ (_Lycæna_) _gordius_ (Fig. 154), neither of which occurs in this country.

In the meadows, the gardens, and the lucerne and clover fields, are found the charming Blue Butterflies, the wings on the upper side, in the majority of instances, blue in the case of the males, brown in the females.

They comprise the genus _Lycæna_, or, as it is frequently called, _Polyommatus_,[49] though that name is now generally given to the preceding. We will content ourselves here by giving drawings of a few species of the genus, namely, the _Lycæna (Polyommatus) Corydon_, or Blue Argus (Fig. 155), which is not uncommon wherever there is chalk, in May and August; the _Lycæna (Polyommatus) battus_, or Brown Argus (Fig. 156), which does not occur here; the _Lycæna (Polyommatus) ægan_, which flies about our sandy heaths.

[49] It may not be out of place to remark that although both these generic names are applied, sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other of these genera, the genus named in the text _Polyommatus_ and that called _Lycæna_ are never considered identical. When either name is applied to the one, it is not at the same time applied to the other.--ED.

The caterpillars of this genus, as also those of the preceding, are broad and flat, resembling wood-lice, with very short legs, and are very slow in their movements.

In the numerous family of the _Vanessidæ_ are placed the beautiful species known as the large and small Tortoise-shell, the Peacock, &c.

The large Tortoise-shell Butterfly (_Vanessa polychloros_, Fig. 158) has the wings of a tawny colour above, and of a blackish brown below, with darker spots, bordered by a black band, with a stripe of yellowish colour running down the middle. It is found in July and September on the oak, the elm, the willow, and many fruit trees.

The larva (Fig. 159) is bluish or brownish, with an orange-coloured lateral line, bristling with yellowish hairs. The chrysalis, which is angular, and of a red tint, is ornamented with golden metallic spots.

We give here a drawing of the small Tortoise-shell (_Vanessa urticæ_, Fig. 160), which resembles the preceding, but is smaller. Its caterpillar, bristly, blackish, with four yellowish lines, lives in companies on the nettle. The Peacock Butterfly (_Vanessa Io_, Fig. 161) is very easily recognised by the peacock's eyes--to the number of four, one on each wing--which have gained for it the name it bears. The eye on the upper wings is reddish in the middle and surrounded by a yellowish circle. That on the lower ones is blackish, with a grey circle round it, and contains bluish spots. The upper part of the wings is of a russety brown, the under part blackish. This _Vanessa_ is met with in the woods, in lucerne fields, and in gardens. Its spiny caterpillar is of a shiny black with white dots, and lives in companies on nettles. The chrysalis, at first greenish, then brownish, is ornamented with golden spots.

The _Vanessa Antiopa_ (Fig. 162), one of the greatest of entomological rarities in England, is not very common in the woods about Paris, but it is frequently found in the environs of Bordeaux, and, above all, at the Grande Chartreuse (in the department of Isère). The Parisian collectors go as far as Fontainebleau in pursuit of this beautiful species, with angular wings, of a dark purple black, with a yellowish or whitish band on the hind border and a succession of blue spots above it. The caterpillar is black, and bristly, with red spots. It lives in companies on the birch, the aspen, the elm, and different kinds of willows. The pupa is blackish, sprinkled with a bluish powder, and has ferruginous-coloured dots. The butterfly, which emerges from the chrysalis in July and August, is found, after hybernation, at the end of February and until May. It flies very rapidly, and is very difficult to catch.