Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/187

 PAP

PAP

times concave, and often convex : in fome fpecies the edge of it is perfectly fmooth and even, and in others it is more or lefs deeply indented ; and in ibme of the fpecies it is jagged, and in fome few inftances one of the jaggs is fo far extended from the reft of the wing, as to form a fort of tail. The wings are alfo in fome very large, in others fmall, in pro- portion to the body. The two pairs have alfo great varieties in their proportion one to the other ; in fome fpecies the in- ferior pair are nearly or wholly as large as the fuperior, and in others they are very fmall in comparifon of them ; and in fome fpecies the under wings are remarkably longer than the upper.

The differences in the manner of the butterflies carrying their wings has been more conftdered by Reaumur than by any au- thor who went before him He obferves, that fome of the fpecies carry their wings perpendicular to the thing they fit upon; others carry them plain or level with the horizon and others let them fall below that level : thefe are called the drooping wing kind. Some others form a fort of canopy with them, to cover their bodies; and others makes them it were embrace their bodies. The colours of the win make excellent diftinctions for the feveral fpecies ; but they are not at all fit for generical diftinctions. It has been already obferved, that there are three kinds of an- tennae which are peculiar to the day butterfly, but the diftri- bution under thefe alone would be too large j the fpecies of the button-horned ones being alone greatly too numerous to be held- altogether. It is neceflary, therefore, to take in with thefe the portions of the wings, according to the preceding differences, and the day butterflies, or papiliss, are thus dif- tinguifhed into feven claffes. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. Vol. I, P. i. p. 344. Clafs 1. Contains thofe papilios whofe antennre are ter- minated by buttons, and whofe wings, when at reft, are placed in a perpendicular direction to the thing the creature Jits upon, the under edges of which embrace the lower part of the body, and whofe fix legs are all employed in fuftain- ing the body, and in walking. The black-fpotted white but- terfly, produced from the beautiful cabbage carterpillar, is one of the papilios of this clafs. Oafs 2. Contains the papilios of the fame characters with the former in all refpects, except that they ufe only four of their legs in fuftaining the body and in walking. The two anterior legs in the flies of this clafs are held in a bent pofture, and are furmfhed with a downy part at their ends, and feem to ferve as a fort of arms. Thefe papilios in general are produced from the prickly caterpillars. The folitary nettle kind gives us an inftance in its papilio. Clafs 3. Contains thofe papilios which agree in all re- flects with the former, except that their two anterior legs, which they ufe as arms and never in walking, are not termi- nated by downy ends, but are fafhioned like the other legs at the extremity, only fo fmall, that it requires a microfcepe to diftinguifh them. There is an inftance of this clafs in a common grey and yellow papilla, that is found in paftures among the grafs in June, July, and Auguft. Clap 4. Contains thofe papilios which have buttoned an- tenna?, as the others, and which carry their wings, when at reft, in a perpendicular direction to the thing they fit upon ; but, as the former have the inferior edge of their wings bent round the under part of their body, fo in thefe the inferior edge is bent upwards in both pair of wings, and embraces and covers the upper part of the body. However obvious this dis- tinction may be, there is another yet more plain one in this, that all of this clafs have one of the jaggs of the wing fo far extended beyond the reft of the verge, that it forms a kind of tail, and they are called the tailed butterflies. Thefe ufe all their fix legs in walking. Clafs 5. Contains thofe papilios which have fix real legs, which they ufe as fuch, and their horns terminated by but- tons as the others ; but whofe wings, when they are in repofe. are not elevated perpendicularly to the thing they fit on, a; in the four preceding claffes, but are held in an horizontal direction, or at the utmoft never meet in an angle over the back. We have an inftance of this clafs in a butterfly bred from a fmooth caterpillar of the marfh mallow. Clafs 6. Contains thofe papilios which have club antenna?. that is, fuch antenna; as gradually increafe in thicknefs from their origin to their extremity. See Feelers. Thefe are that clafs of papilios which are always upon the wing, and buzz

about flowers without

fettli

■g upon them. They dart

their trunks into the flower while they fuflain themfelves in the air, and have a way of holding themfelves in poize, lik a kite or other bird of prey ; but when they are bufy about the ■flowers, they have their wings in continual motion, and make a humming noifc, like the humble bees. Mad. Merian h: called all thefe pha'etue, or night butterflies, but they are all truly of the day kind. The French, from their poizing them- felves on the wing, and making that humming noife, call them eperviers 9 and papilions-foardms. Of this clafs are thofe fmall fpecies called the fly butterflies, whofe wings are only covered in part with duft or fades, the remainder being tranfparent and glafly, as fome expreft it. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. Vol. I p. ', 356. Suppl. Vol. II.

Clafs 7. In this laft clafs are comprehended thofe papilios whofe antennae are large at their origin, (mailer afterwards, and fi- nally terminated by an oval head ; and which differ from the club antenna? in having no pencils of hairs at the end. This clafs is not very numerous, and the moft frequent inftance we have of it is in a painted kind, which we frequently find on blades of grafs, in meadows in July. This flies little in the day time, but is ufually found fixed to a plant, as the moths are. Mad. Merian and others have thence called it a phakna, or night-fly ; but the truth is, that it flies no more by night than by day light, but is a lazy creature which makes very little ufe of its wings. See Phalenje. There is ibme appearance from one of Mad. Merian's tables, vix the 20th, that an eighth clafs of thefe day papilios ftioixld be found, fhe having figured one with conic granulated an- tenna?, common to fome of the moths. If this obfervation be juft, or if any new ones of a like kind fhould demand it, the claffes may be eafily enlarged. Reaumur's Hift. Infect. The world is well acquainted with the beauties of this part of the animal creation, but Mr. Reaumur has given accounts of fome very lingular fpecies, which defcrve a peculiar regard. One fpecies of thefe he has called the bundle of dry Lams. This, when it is in a ftate of reft, has wholly the appearance of a little clufter of the decayed leaves of fome herb. The pofi- tion and colour of its wings greatly favour this refemb'ance, and they have very large ribs, wholly like thofe of the leaves of plants, and are indented in the fame manner at their edges as the leaves of many plants are. This feems to point out the care of nature for the animal, and frequently may preferve it from birds, fcrV.

The fkull butterfly is another fingular fpecies, fo called from its head refembJing, in- fome degree, a death's head, or human fkull. 1 his very remarkable appearance is terrible to many people, but it has another yet greater Angularity attending it ; which is, that, when frighted, it has a mournful and harfla voice. This appeared the more furprizing to Mr. Reaumur, as no other known butterfly had anv the leaft voice at all ; and he was not ready of belief that it was a real voice, but fufpected the noife, like that of the cicadae, to be owing to the attrition of fome part of the body; and, in fine, he, by , great pains, difcovered that this noife was not truly vocal, but was made by a hard and brilk rubbing of the trunk againft tw6 hard bodies between which it is placed. Another butterfly there is, fo fmall, that it might be miftaken for a very fmall fly. This is certainly the extreme in degree of fize of all the known butterflies, and cannot but have been proportionably fmall in the ftate of a caterpillar and chryfalis : this creature fpends its whole life in all the three ftages of ca- terpillar, chryfalis, and butterfly, on the leaf of the celandine. It lives on the under fide of the leaf, and tho' in the cater- pillar ftate it feeds on it, yet it does no damage. It does not eat the fubftance of the leaf, but draws from" it only a fine juice, which is foon repaired again, without occafioning any change in the appearance of the leaf. This fpecies is very fhort lived, and paffes through its three ftates in Co fhort a time, that there are frequently ten generations of it in one year; whereas in all the other butterflies, two generations in the year are all that are to be had. Thefe two generations are, fufficient to make a prodigious increafe : in a large garden, if there are twenty caterpillars in fpring, thefe may be overlooked, and there may be eafily concluded to be none there, even on a narrow fearch ; but if thefe twenty caterpillars afterwards become twenty butterflies, ten of which are male and ten fe j male, and eacb female lay the fame number of eggs that the common filk-worm does, that is four hundred ; if all the ca- terpillars hatched of thefe become butterflies, and thefe lay eggs in the fame proportion, which remain the winter, and come to be hatched in the fucceeding fpring; then from thefe twenty, in only one year, you will have eight hundred thoufand ; and if we add to this the increafe of thefe in a fucceeding year, the account muft appear terrible, and fuch as no art could guard againft. The great ruler of the world has put fo many hinderances in the way of this over-abundant production, that it is very rare fuch years of deftruction happen. Seme fuch have happened, however, and much mifchief has been dread- ed from them, not only from their eating all the herbage, but from themfelves being eaten with herbs in fallads and other- wife ; but experiments has proved this an erroneous opinion, and they are found to be innocent, and eatable as fnails or oyfters.

Caterpillars in general are by fome fuppofed poifonous to the touch. Mr. "Reaumur has proved by repeated experiments, that all the fmooth ones are perfectly clear from this accufa- tion, and may be handled with perfect fafety; but the hairy ones are capable of producing great pain and itching after the touching them. Thefe pains are not only felt in the hands, but alfo in the face, or aoy other part ; and that even tho* the animal have not been touched, if it have only been brought near the part. The fpolia, or caft fkin of thefe animals, have alfo the fame effect j but then it is absolutely neceflary they mould be touched. This unqueft ion ably carries the appear- ance of the effect of a poifon to vulgar eyes, but the cafe will appear otherwife to thole who will examine into the whole more nearly. The mifchief occafioned by thefe creatures U u comes