[Illustration:(Decorative design)] INTRODUCTION. Of MOTHS and BUTTERFLIES in general. The Opinion of _Equivocal Generation_ however formerly received, has by the present Age been deservedly rejected; since every Observation proves, that all Creatures are produced by Parents of their own Kind, and that in general those Parents are Male and Female; and the Production of every _Moth_ and _Butterfly_ in this Manner, is I believe at present not doubted by any Body. The Females, both of the _Moth_ and _Butterfly_, lay their Eggs in a short Time after Copulation, _upon_ or contiguous _to_ what will supply proper Food for the young Brood when produced. After a certain Period the Infant _Caterpillars_ included in the Eggs burst their Shells, crawl forth, and feed upon the Provision ready prepared for them. And each of these _Caterpillars_, having fed its appointed Time, becomes a _Chrysalis_ or _Aurelia_; from which State, after a while, it issues forth a _Fly_ in the Likeness of its Parent. Some Species of _Butterflies_ breed twice a Year. Those that come forth in _May_ lay their Eggs soon after, which Eggs in about nine Days Time are hatched. The _Caterpillars_ feed for about six Weeks, then change to _Chrysalis_, lie in that State for about fourteen Days, and then the _Flies_ are bred. These lay their Eggs as the first Brood did, the _Caterpillars_ change to _Chrysalis_ in _September_, and the _Flies_ come forth in the following _May_. The Variety of the _Moth_ Kinds is so great, that perhaps there is scarce a Day in the Year when some of them are not bred. The Time of their Continuance in the _Chrysalis_ State will be best known by attending to the Account of each _Moth_ described in the following Plates. Some _Moths_ as well as _Butterflies_ breed twice a Year. It frequently happens, that the _Fly_ does not come out at the usual Time, but continues in the _Chrysalis_ State till that Time Twelvemonth; so that the Creature remains in that Case a Year and nine Months (and sometimes longer) in a State of Rest, without Nourishment of any kind. Thus much in general:—We descend now to particular Observations. On the different Manner of laying their Eggs. All _Butterflies_ and _Moths_ lay a great Number of Eggs, some even as far as two or three Hundred. The Eggs of some Kinds are glutenous, or covered with a glewy Moisture; but those of others are not so: The glutenous are fixt (sometimes singly) on _Grass_, _the Leaves of Trees_, _Shrubs_, &c. and sometimes in Clusters after the same Manner. Some Sorts of Eggs are laid naked or uncovered, and others are cloath’d with a sort of Down, _&c._ Some _Flies_ lay them in a Spiral Line, or Screw-like Figure, round a small Twigg, a Stalk of Grass, _&c._ And these may be pulled off entire, in Fashion like a Cylindrical Tube, and as hard as Horn: Others deposit theirs in the Chinks of the _Barks of Trees_, &c. &c. &c.