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A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera.

A pteropod.

A large American butterfly (Papilio troilus). It is black, with yellow marginal spots on the front wings, and blue on the rear.

A handsome butterfly (Pyrameis Atalanta) of Europe and America. The larva feeds on nettles. Admiral shell (Zoöl.), the popular name of an ornamental cone shell (Conus admiralis). Lord High Admiral, a great officer of state, who (when this rare dignity is conferred) is at the head of the naval administration of Great Br…

A beautiful butterfly (Argunnis Aphrodite) of the United States.

the milkweed, swallowwort, and some other species having medicinal properties. Asclepias butterfly (Zoöl.), a large, handsome, red and black butterfly (Danais Archippus), found in both hemispheres. It feeds on plants of the genus Asclepias.

oots, and when adult, on the leaves, of cabbage and other cruciferous plants. -- Cabbage butterfly (Zoöl.), a white butterfly (Pieris rapæ of both Europe and America, and the Allied P. oleracea, a native American species) which, in the larval state, devours the leaves of the cabbage and the turnip. See Cabbage worm, b…

The larval state of a butterfly or any lepidopterous insect; sometimes, but less commonly, the larval state of other insects, as the sawflies, which are also called false caterpillars. The true caterpillars have three pairs of true legs, and several pairs of abdominal fleshy legs (prolegs) armed with hooks. Some are ha…

e as having a special relation to the disease; -- called also cholera bacillus. -- Comma butterfly (Zoöl.), an American butterfly (Grapta comma), having a white comma-shaped marking on the under side of the wings.

partridge berry), or when there are two forms of one or both sexes of the same species of butterfly. Dimorphism is the condition of the appearance of the same species under two dissimilar forms. Darwin.

larvæ bore into the wood or under the bark of the elm (esp. Saperda tridentata). -- Elm butterfly (Zoöl.), one of several species of butterflies, which, in the caterpillar state, feed on the leaves of the elm (esp. Vanessa antiopa and Grapta comma). See Comma butterfly, under Comma. -- Elm moth (Zoöl.), one of numer…

. -- Emperor paper. See under Paper. -- Purple emperor (Zoöl.), a large, strong British butterfly (Apatura iris).

etle; -- called also grubworm. See Illust. of Goldsmith beetle, under Goldsmith. Yet your butterfly was a grub. Shak.

A butterfly of the genus Thecla; as, the green hairstreak (T. rubi).

A dry husk or covering. When the kex, or husk, is broken, he proveth a fair flying butterfly. Holland.

hinges. -- Leaf bud (Bot.), a bud which develops into leaves or a leafy branch. -- Leaf butterfly (Zoöl.), any butterfly which, in the form and colors of its wings, resembles the leaves of plants upon which it rests; esp., butterflies of the genus Kallima, found in Southern Asia and the East Indies. -- Leaf crumpler…

form a dense like a blackberry. -- Bourbon lily (Bot.), Lilium candidum. See Illust. -- Butterfly lily. (Bot.) Same as Mariposa lily, in the Vocabulary. -- Lily daffodil (Bot.), a plant of the genus Narcissus, and its flower. -- Lily encrinite (Paleon.), a fossil encrinite, esp. Encrinus liliiformis. See Encrinite.…

ortus) of tuliplike bulbous herbs with large, and often gaycolored, blossoms. Called also butterfly lily. Most of them are natives of California.

The scutum or dorsal plate of the middle thoracic segment of an insect. See Illust. of Butterfly.

A very large red and black butterfly (Danais Plexippus); -- called also milkweed butterfly.