The Butterfly Book. W. J. Holland
box containing excelsior, hay, cotton, or loose shavings in sufficient abundance to prevent the jarring of the inner box and consequent breakage. Where specimens are forwarded in envelopes, having been collected in the field, and are not pinned, the precaution of surrounding them with packing such as has been described is not necessary, but the box in which they are shipped should always be strong enough to resist breakage. Things forwarded by mail or by express always receive rough treatment, and the writer has lost many fine specimens which have been forwarded to him because the shipper was careless in packing.
Pins.—In the preceding pages frequent reference has been made to insect-pins. These are pins which are made longer and thinner than is the case with ordinary pins, and are therefore adaptable to the special use to which they are put. There are a number of makers whose pins have come into vogue. What are known as Karlsbader and Kläger pins, made in Germany, are the most widely used. They are made of ordinary pin-metal in various sizes. The Karlsbader pins have very fine points, but, owing to the fineness of the points and the softness of the metal, they are very apt to buckle, or turn up at the points. The Kläger pins are not exposed to the same objection, as the points are not quite so fine. The best pins, however, which are now made are those which have recently been introduced by Messrs. Kirby, Beard, & Co. of England. They are made of soft steel, lacquered, possessing very great strength and considerable flexibility. The finest-sized pin of this make has as much strength as the largest pin of the other makes that have been mentioned, and the writer has never known them to buckle at the tip, even when pinned through the hardest insect tissues. While these pins are a little more expensive than others, the writer does not fail to give them an unqualified preference.
The Forceps.—An instrument which is almost indispensable to the student of entomology is the forceps. There are many forms of forceps, and it is not necessary to speak at length in reference to the various shapes; but for the use of the student of butterflies the forceps made by the firm of Blake & Co. of Philadelphia is to be preferred to all others. The head of this firm is himself a famous entomologist, and he has given us in the forceps which is illustrated in Fig. 74 an instrument which comes as near perfection as the art of the maker of instruments can produce. The small forceps represented in Fig. 75 is very useful in pinning small specimens. In handling mounted specimens it is well always to take hold of the pin below the specimen with the forceps, and insert it into the cork by the pressure of the forceps. If the attempt is made to pin down a specimen with the naked fingers holding the pin by the head, the finger is apt to slip and the specimen to be ruined.
IMMORTALITY
A butterfly basked on a baby's grave, Where a lily had chanced to grow: "Why art thou here with thy gaudy dye, When she of the blue and sparkling eye Must sleep in the churchyard low?" Then it lightly soared thro' the sunny air, And spoke from its shining track: "I was a worm till I won my wings, And she, whom thou mourn'st, like a seraph sings; Would'st thou call the blest one back?"
Sigourney.
CHAPTER III
THE CLASSIFICATION OF BUTTERFLIES
"Winged flowers, or flying gems."
Moore.
At the base of all truly scientific knowledge lies the principle of order. There have been some who have gone so far as to say that science is merely the orderly arrangement of facts. While such a definition is defective, it is nevertheless true that no real knowledge of any branch of science is attained until its relationship to other branches of human knowledge is learned, and until a classification of the facts of which it treats has been made. When a science treats of things, it is necessary that these things should become the subject of investigation, until at last their relation to one another, and the whole class of things to which they belong, has been discovered. Men who devote themselves to the discovery of the relation of things and to their orderly classification are known as systematists.
The great leader in this work was the immortal Linnæus, the "Father of Natural History," as he has been called. Upon the foundation laid by him in his work entitled "Systema Naturæ," or "The System of Nature," all who have followed after him have labored, and the result has been the rise of the great modern sciences of botany and zoölogy, which treat respectively of the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
The Place of Butterflies in the Animal Kingdom.—The animal kingdom, for purposes of classification, has been subdivided into various groups known as subkingdoms. One of these subkingdoms contains those animals which, being without vertebræ, or an internal skeleton, have an external skeleton, composed of a series of horny rings, attached to which are various organs. This subkingdom is known by naturalists under the name of the Arthropoda. The word Arthropoda is derived from the Greek language and is compounded of two words, (αρθρον), meaning a joint and (πουσ), meaning a foot. The Arthropoda seem at first sight to be made up of jointed rings and feet; hence the name.
Plate VI.
The subkingdom of the Arthropoda is again subdivided into six classes. These are the following:
Class I. The Crustacea (Shrimps, Crabs, Water-fleas, etc.).
Class II. The Podostomata (King-crabs, Trilobites [fossil], etc.).
Class III. The Malacopoda (Peripatus, a curious genus of worm-like creatures, found in the tropics, and allied to the Myriapods in some important respects).
Class IV. The Myriapoda (Centipedes, etc.).
Class V. The Arachnida (Spiders, Mites, etc.).
Class VI. The Insecta (Insects).
That branch of zoölogy which treats of insects is known as entomology.
The Insecta have been variously subdivided by different scientific writers, but the following subdivision has much in it to commend it, and will suffice as an outline for the guidance of the advanced student.
Class VI. Insecta (Insects proper)
Heterometabola
For the most part undergoing only a partial metamorphosis in the development from the egg to the imago.
ORDERS
1. Thysanura.
Suborders:
Collembola (Podura, Springtails).
Symphyla (Scolopendrella).
Cinura (Bristletails, etc.).
2. Dermatoptera (Earwigs).
3. Pseudoneuroptera.
Suborders:
Mallophaga (Bird-lice).
Platyptera (Stone-flies, Termites, etc.).
Odonata (Dragon-flies, etc.).
Ephemerina (May-flies, etc.).
4. Neuroptera (Corydalis, Ant-lion, Caddis-flies, etc.).
5. Orthoptera (Cockroach, Mantis, Mole-cricket, Grasshopper, Katydid, etc.).
6. Hemiptera.
Suborders:
Parasita