ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
Butterfly: Any of several thousand species of
EMILY DICKINSON (1831-1886)
A fuzzy fellow, without feet,
Yet doth exceeding run!
Of velvet, is his Countenance,
And his Complexion, dun!
5 Sometime, he dwelleth in the grass!
Sometime, upon a bough,
From which he doth descend in plush
Upon the Passer-by!
All this in summer.
10 But when winds alarm the Forest Folk,
And taketh Damask Residence—
And struts in sewing silk!
Then, finer than a Lady,
Emerges in the spring!
15 A Feather on each shoulder!
You’d scarce recognize him!
By men, yclept Caterpillar!
By me! But who am I,
To tell the pretty secret
20 Of the butterfly!
insects belonging to about six families (or more,
in other systems of classification) constituting the
subfamily Papilionoidea. Along with the moths
and the skippers, they make up the insect order
Lepidoptera. Butterflies are nearly worldwide in
distribution.
Like those of moths, the wings, bodies, and legs of
butterflies are covered with dustlike scales that
come off when they are handled. Unlike moths,
butterflies are usually brightly or strikingly
coloured and are active during the day. Perhaps the
most distinctive features of the butterfly are its
club-tipped antennae and its habit of holding the
wings vertically over the back when at rest.
The life cycle of the butterfly, like that of other
lepidopterans, has four stages: egg, larva
(caterpillar), pupa (chyrsalis), and adult (imago).
The larva and adults of most species are plant
eaters.
The true butterflies (Papilionoidea) are divided
into families as follows: Pieridae, the whites and
sulfurs, known for their mass migrations;
Papilionidae, the swallowtails and parnassians
(the latter sometimes considered a separate family,
Parnassiidae); Lycaenidae, including the blues,
coppers, hairstreaks, and gossamer-winged
butterflies; Riodinidae, the metalmarks, found
chiefly in the American tropics; Libytheidae,
snout butterflies; and Nymphalidae, called the
nymphalid butterflies, the largest and most diverse
family (divided by some authorities into several
families), which includes such popular butterflies
as the admirals, fritillaries, monarchs, zebras, and
painted ladies.