. The butterflies of the British Isles. Butterflies. THE BUTTERFLY. of the compound eye (a\ which seems to take up the largest share of the whole affair. Although so bulky and so complex in the matter of divisions, or facets, as they are termed (the facets are not shown in figure), the power of sight is not really very keen. A butterfly can see things in a general way readily enough, but it seems unable to clearly distinguish one object from another. When engaged in egg-laying, the female butter- fly rarely fails to place her eggs on a leaf or spray of the plant that the future caterpillar wil
. The butterflies of the British Isles. Butterflies. THE BUTTERFLY. of the compound eye (a\ which seems to take up the largest share of the whole affair. Although so bulky and so complex in the matter of divisions, or facets, as they are termed (the facets are not shown in figure), the power of sight is not really very keen. A butterfly can see things in a general way readily enough, but it seems unable to clearly distinguish one object from another. When engaged in egg-laying, the female butter- fly rarely fails to place her eggs on a leaf or spray of the plant that the future caterpillar will feed upon, and it has been suggested that in making this unerring selection the insect is guided more by the sense of smell than by that of sight. The horns (c) (antennce), or feelers, as they are sometimes called, which adorn the head, are now considered to be organs of smell. These are composed of a number of rings or segments, which vary in the different kinds of butterfly, as also does the shape of the terminal rings forming what is known as the club. In Fig. 7, e (Purple Emperor) and/(Marbled White) represent the gradually thickened club ; jn g (Brimstone) and h (Dark-green Fritil- lary) the clubs are more or less abruptly formed. Our Skippers have well-developed clubs ; these may be hooked at the tip as in i (Large Skipper), or blunt at the tip as in j (Chequered Skipper) ; at the base of the Skipper's antenna, that is at the point where it is inserted in the head, there is a tuft of rather long hairs. Of the various mouth parts it will only be necessary to refer to the suction-tube, Fig. 6, d (proboscis), often called the "tongue," which is perhaps the most important, at least to the butterfly itself, as this organ is, in a way, as useful to it in the perfect state. Fig. 6. Head of Butterfly. a, compound eye ; b, palp ; c, antenna ; d, Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for re
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbutterf, bookyear1906
