There are more than a million kinds of insects. Thousands of these kinds of insects are moths or butterflies.
Moths and butterflies have six legs. They would not be insects if they did not. Their bodies are divided into three regions, as the bodies of all insects are. They have feelers, as all insects do. But in one way moths and butterflies are different from all other insects. They have scales on their wings. These scales lap over one another like the shingles on a roof. It is not always easy to tell whether a "scale-wing" is a moth or a butterfly. Here are a few helps:
Butterflies usually fly in the daytime. They flit about in our gardens on sunny summer days. Moths as a rule fly at night.
Butterflies usually hold their wings up when they are resting. Moths usually hold theirs flat or in a rooflike position.
The body of a butterfly is slender. As a rule the body of a moth is plump. It often looks furry.
The feelers are the best help of all. A butterfly has slender feelers with a thicker part, or club, at the end. A moth's feelers may be like threads, or they may be like tiny feathers.
There are four stages in the life of every moth and butterfly. These four stages are egg, larva, pupa, and adult
The larva of a moth or butterfly is often called a Caterpillar. Caterpillars eat a great deal and grow fast. They grow so fast that they actually grow out of their skins. They may shed their skins several times. A caterpillar's new skin may be quite different in color from the old skin it just crawled out of.
The pupa stage is the sleepy stage. The insect does not move about or eat. Many moths spend this stage in a cocoon. The cocoon is made of silken threads which the caterpillar spins when it is ready to become a pupa. Butterflies do not spin cocoons. A butterfly pupa is often called a chrysalis. While the moth or butterfly is a pupa, great changes take place. It is hard to believe that the four-winged insect that finally flies away was once a crawling caterpillar.
Some "scale-wings" eat nothing at all after they are grown up. Of course, they do not live long. Others drink nectar from flowers. These help us by carrying pollen from flower to flower as they are getting the nectar.
Caterpillars, on the other hand, often do a great deal of harm. They are very big eaters, and many of them eat things that we are not willing to let them have. Some eat the leaves of trees. Some eat fruits and
vegetables. Some eat holes in our rugs or clothes. Most of the caterpillars that do great harm are the caterpillars of moths. The cabbage worm is an exception. It is the caterpillar of the pretty cabbage butterfly. There is one good thing to be said for caterpillars. Silk comes from the cocoons spun by the caterpillars of the silkworm moth.
