Butterflies, Moths, And Words: Entomology & Etymology

We considered just posting this to our Extras section; but, since there is still a little summer left to chase butterflies outdoors, we decided to post it here. Enjoy! — J.D.

About 600 million years ago, plants and animals which had lived successfully in the ocean began to venture onto the pieces of land that had risen above the waves. Some of them were able to adjust to life in small pools and later in lagoons that were a mixture of saltwater and fresh water. Some of the most successful of these animals belonged to the group we now call arthropods (arthro=joint, pod=leg or foot). Arthropods have jointed legs. They don't have warm blood, bones, fins, feathers, or fur. They do have hard coverings called exoskeletons (exo=outer, skeleton=body framework) outside their bodies. Those are the things we can count on. Everything else about them is a case of usually-but-there-may-be-exceptions. Today close to 75 per cent of all the species (a special group) of animals on Earth are arthropods. You didn't think we ran the planet, did you?

Some of those many arthropods...

The largest group or phylum (rank) Arthropoda is the class (division) Insecta. Okay, we all know some insects. The largest group or order (arrangement) of insects is Coleoptera (coleo=sheath, ptera=wing), the beetles. The second largest order is Lepidoptera (lepido=scale, ptera=wing), the moths and butterflies. That is a good description because they do have wings covered by tiny scales made from flattened hairs.  The names "butterfly" and "moth" are Old English names for the insects, written about since 700 AD. and later by English authors like Chaucer and Shakespeare. And no, "butterfly" is NOT "flutterby" twisted around. There are at least 160,000 species of moths and 20,000 to possibly as many as 45,000 species of butterflies.

Hummingbird moth, photo by J.J.

When and how did the Lepidoptera separate from the other arthropods? That is a hard question to answer because these creatures are so delicate that they are seldom preserved as fossils. Most of their fossils are of wing scales that left an impression in a material that later fossilized. We can compare them to modern moths and butterflies, but we cannot recreate the original animals. The exceptions are when butterflies or moths were preserved in amber. Amber is fossilized tree sap. When it was fresh, the sap often flowed over insects and other small animals and hardened, preserving them just as they were in life. We do know that the moths came first. There were at least three families of primitive (first or earliest) moths which have been traced to nearly 200 million years ago. If there were three families already at that time, there must have been a common ancestor even earlier which has not yet been found. Butterflies, on the other hand, came along later, 40 to 50 million years ago.

What is the difference between a butterfly and a moth? All butterflies are really moths, but they behave differently. Even then there are exceptions to the 'rules'. Most, but not all, moths are active at night. Most butterflies are active in the daytime. Some of each fly at dusk or dawn. Most moths are relatively small and dull-colored, but we will show you some that are big, boldly colored, and beautiful. Many butterflies are brightly colored and some are large. Moths tend to rest with their wings flat, while most butterflies hold their wings upright and pressed together when they are at rest. Most moths are darker colored on top and lighter underneath, while many butterflies are just the opposite. Both use devices like eye-shaped spots to startle or scare away enemies. Look at the 'eyes' on this Io moth.

Io moth

Butterfly laying eggs (circled in red)

All butterflies and moths hatch from eggs laid by the females of their particular species. A female may lay eggs even if she has not mated, but they will not contain caterpillars (old North French word meaning "hairy like a cat"), also called larvae (an immature form of the species which does not resemble the adult). The eggs come in different sizes and in many shapes, including round, oval, teardrop-shaped and drum-shaped. They also come in many colors and surface textures. A female may lay only a few eggs, usually one-at-a-time on the underside of a leaf, or she may lay hundreds. The average number is from 150 to 200. Some females lay their eggs on a specific plant because that is all her babies will eat once they hatch. Others prefer a wide range of plants. The female will die soon after she has laid all her eggs.

Somehow a small generalized form, or several forms together, gave rise to the Lepidoptera. How they did it is not yet understood. The most likely idea goes like this:
    1. In order to get a caterpillar, start with a worm something like an earthworm, but give it strong jaws with small sharp teeth and simple eyes that can tell light from dark. A caterpillar chews with jaws that work from side to side, not bottom to top like ours. Watching one chew is really strange!   
    2.  Divide the worm's body into segments (sections) and stick a leg on each side of every segment. Now you have something like a millipede (milli=1000, pede=leg or foot), which is also an arthropod, except that millipedes have 2 pairs of legs on each segment. They don't have a thousand legs; the record is 750.

Millipede

    3. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Let's try this: Make the first 3 pairs of legs the only walking legs and strengthen the segments below them to be flexible and able to wave around in different directions until the legs can find a foothold. Give some of the remaining legs the ability to clasp a surface and keep the animal from falling off a stem or leaf.
    4. Give your caterpillar a color and pattern that helps it hide or a bold, colorful one that advertises "You will be sorry if you eat me!" Many caterpillars are poisonous, having absorbed poisons from the plants they eat, while others just taste nasty.  A bird or frog might eat one, but it wouldn't make that mistake again!

Monarch butterfly caterpillar

When the caterpillar is ready to leave the egg, it chews a hole in the egg's shell and pulls itself out. Many caterpillars then turn around and eat the rest of the eggshell, probably getting needed minerals or enzymes (proteins that speed up a chemical reaction) from it. The caterpillar has a head with jaws and simple eyes. It has six walking legs close behind the head.  It has tiny holes called spiracles ("breathing holes"), on the sides of its segmented body. Toward the rear end of its body it has leg-like structures called pro-legs (pro=before, earlier), which it uses to grip the surface of a leaf. It may be colored to match its leaf, have a textured pattern that hides it, or have a bright-colored pattern that sends a warning. It may look like dirt, a dead leaf, or bird droppings. At least one looks like a snake!

Pupa

The caterpillar's only desire is to eat, eat, eat. It grows fast. While its skin does stretch, there soon comes a time when it must be shed. This is called molting (molt=throw off). The next skin has already formed under the first one. Sometimes, when the outer skin has pulled away, it becomes so transparent that it is possible to see the new one through it. It is soft and damp and can be stretched greatly before it hardens. Not only is the caterpillar now much larger, but its color and pattern may be unlike the previous one. Most caterpillars molt five times over a period of a couple of months. They then stop eating and prepare to move on to the next stage of their lives, the pupa (a name given the structure by the scientist and classifier Linnaeus)  or chrysalis ("golden", from the color of many of them).

The caterpillar finds a secure location in which to make the change. It spins silk threads to fasten itself in place. A butterfly caterpillar usually hangs by its tail, although it may hold itself upright with a band of silk. Over time they have discarded or lost much of the covering that moths use. Moths are more likely to spin tough, papery-looking silk cocoons (French for "sheaths") which may be hidden by dead leaves or the ground itself. The pupa no longer looks like a caterpillar, but does not reveal what its adult form will be.

Luna moth

Scientists can cut open the coverings of the pupa to see what happens on each day. This kills each pupa, but gives them a look at the "what" of each day's process, and even suggestions about some of the "why" a process is going on, but there are still mysteries concerning the "how". Suppose you were designing a process that would turn a pupa into a butterfly or moth. Here are some of the changes you might make.

Moth antennae

    1. Fuse the first few segments next to the eyes and mouth to make a head. Give it more complicated compound eyes with excellent vision even into colors and wavelengths of light that we cannot see, including polarized light.    
    2 Get rid of the jaws and teeth and substitute a flexible mouth-part that can be rolled into a tube for sucking nectar or other juices from a plant and can be rolled up neatly below the head when it isn't in use. Stick on a pair of sense organs known as antennae (old sailor's term for a "sail yard", the long structure that supports a sail) or "feelers" at the top of the head. The term "feeler" is misleading. These organs carry the animal's sense of smell. Only the males have the super-large feathery antennae seen here. They're sniffing for females.

Emerging butterfly

    3. Fuse the next three segments and put a pair of jointed legs on each one. These are the same legs the caterpillar had, just rebuilt. If a leg is damaged in the caterpillar stage, the butterfly or moth will be lame when it emerges as an adult.
    4. Expand and harden the next section to make a thorax (chest). Make this part of the body anchor the 3 pairs of jointed legs and the powerful muscles that move the wings. There are 4 wings. The pair of wings up by the head are called the forewings. The pair farther down are the hindwings. Poke some holes for the spiracles so that air can move in and out.
    5. Stretch the last part of the body to make the abdomen (belly). This should have about 10 segments and contain a long tubular heart, muscles for breathing, the digestive system, the reproductive organs, and an ovipositor (ovi=egg, positor=placer) for the female. This is a tube through which she can lay her eggs. That should do the job!

Butterfly antennae

The change from the pupa to the adult is a process called metamorphosis (transformation}. The adult breaks out headfirst. Most butterflies have thready antennae with little knobs on the ends. Moths have heavier antennae, usually without knobs, and larger scales on their wings. They usually have thicker bodies with coverings of hairs or what looks like fur — probably to keep them warm at night.  You should discover fairly soon whether the adult is a butterfly or a moth.

One difference which isn't visible is that many moths have hearing organs (not "ears") on or inside their bodies. Moths and bats have been having an "arms race" for millions of years. The bats develop better ways to find the moths and the moths develop better ways to confuse the bats. Some moths actually make clicking noises that interfere with bats' 'radar'. But moths had some of these organs before there were any bats. Scientists have found that some male moths make sounds to attract the females.

Cecropia moth

When I was a teenager, I used to collect cocoons every autumn. My room was the coldest place in the house, so I pinned the cocoons to the curtains in the north window. In the spring I was rewarded with the appearance of big silk moths like this one. They never failed to hatch. Most were females. The males just dry off and fly away. The females linger, giving off a musky perfume that many people don't like, but I enjoyed. They wait patiently until the males, lured by their scent from as much as a mile away, come calling. The ladies each chose their favorite and flew off to mate and start the life cycle all over again.

Polyphemus moth

Moths have had many millions of years to adapt to all kinds of conditions and can be found all over the world except in the polar regions. They are not a problem in themselves, but some of their caterpillars have become serious pests because they eat clothing, food crops, and other things that we value. On the other hand, they produce silk and pollinate a number of plants. They pick up pollen while they are feeding on one flower; some of it rubs of inside the next flower. Even butterflies, although they are great pollinators, can have harmful caterpillars. A good example is the white cabbage butterfly.

 Migrating Monarch butterflies

Many butterflies have a relatively small range, usually tied to their choice of a food plant. Others, like the Monarch, migrate seasonally and return to "home base" for the winter. But one little butterfly has already established itself on all the continents but South America and Antarctica. (They are established in Central America and tend to stay in the mountains in hot countries, so we may find them there in South America soon.) Its name is the Painted Lady. It has divided into a number of species over time and distance, but none exceed the 2-21/2-inch size range, All have the same color combination and similar patterns. We have 2 species: the American Painted Lady and a slightly larger species that was probably its ancestor, which visits from Mexico every year. Their range has expanded northward until it is now well north of the Canadian border. The butterflies have been collected by the thousands over the centuries and preserved in collections, but look at any one of them and you will recognize a Painted Lady.  Scientists now believe that this species may be the first to solve the problem of flying long distances and set out from Africa thousands of years ago in its quest to conquer the world.

Painted Lady butterfly

I could never bring myself to kill butterflies and moths, stick pins through their dead bodies, and store them in a box. I learned so much more from them alive. I'm glad that I didn't kill them. Because of global warming, plastics, deforestation, spraying with insecticides, etc., many species may already be extinct and thousands of others are threatened. They need our help now.

The study of insects is called entomology. The study of word origins and meaning is called etymology. I hope you have enjoyed the examples I included.

Now I have a personal message. Humanity is a single species. No segment of it is superior or inferior to any other. Humans, in all their infinite variety, should be accepted and appreciated.

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

New Geometric Patterns

A couple of years ago we began drawing some small, simple geometric patterns which could easily be repeated to make larger, more complex designs.  These were designs that could be adapted for many different crafts — not just needlecrafts.  Designs could be repeated a number of times just as they were in the picture, or they could be reversed, rotated, even taken apart and put together in new configurations.

Let's look at the three patterns at the top of the page. Here is the first one, a very simple design in a single color on white. In the larger version, the original pattern has been rotated to make a design of squares. This one can be continued outward as far as you want to go.

Now let's consider the pattern at the other end of the line. You may remember this one.  Later we showed you how to change the design from a square pattern to a rectangular one by elongating the internal squares either vertically or horizontally.

Vertical & horizontal  versions

I was trying to make two points. First, that, since this was an all-over pattern, it was not necessary to start in the middle of the canvas. I started the piece on the left at the upper right-hand corner of the design and expanded it both horizontally and vertically as far as my canvas segment allowed. Second, the pattern can be worked to fit rectangular projects. They do not have to be square, as the 4-way bargello designs do need to be.  I suggested that viewers might want to do a sample using the 3-stitches-over-4-threads formula that I used for this sample, which elongates the squares into rectangles vertically. The third sample elongated the squares to rectangles horizontally. The result is definitely rectangular — and large. It is probably not a good design for a 4-way bargello unless you are using much smaller squares of canvas. It would probably work on # 14 needlepoint canvas, however.

The middle pattern can be repeated just as it is, of course, but I want to play with it a while. How you approach this pattern depends on whether you want to place the emphasis on the heavier "North/East/South/West" part of the square pattern or the more delicate diagonal components. I will start with the heavier aspects. Here is the result. You can change this from a square pattern to a horizontal one by simply adding another repeat of two of the smaller squares to any side of the original.

I returned to the design, this time concentrating on the slender lines that formed the diamond shapes inside the frames.

These designs made from the small corner squares have proven to be popular. For that reason, I am giving you some more of them to work with. In each case, the original square that was rotated is shown in its proper position and is emphasized by a black outline.

Suppose you are ready to enlarge a design but are not sure how to proceed.

Take a clean sheet of graph paper and mark its center both horizontally and vertically. Repeat your desired pattern (diagram above) on top of the horizontal line, starting just to the left of the vertical line. Now repeat your pattern in reverse to the right of the vertical line. Turn the paper upside-down. Repeat what you just did below the horizontal line above the horizontal line now. Now you have a 4-way starting pattern.  Each colored square represents a stitch or a square of stitches in your pattern. Empty squares can be worked in white, black, beige, etc. Work the four parts of your design in the center of your canvas, then decide how you want to "grow" your finished pattern.

The samples I usually show on these posts are done on #7 plastic canvas. I recommend this for practice and to make pattern samples that are meant to be filed in a box for future reference. If you are working in tent stitch, this is the pattern square, with one stitch for each square of the pattern. It is also done on #7 canvas. These patterns are very versatile. If you do latch-hook, for example, you can use a pattern like this one by putting in a knot for each square of the pattern. This would work as both a four-way pattern, perhaps for a pillow, and an all-over one for a mat or rug. Beading and mosaics could also be done with such a pattern.

When working a multicolored pattern like this, I recommend using a separate needle for each color. This cuts down on the time spent in threading needles and decreases yarn waste. Secure each color often on the back of your canvas. Do not carry long strands of yarn across the back of your canvas while moving from one colored segment to the next.

This two-color pattern is suitable for an all-over design, but perhaps is not as good for a 4-way design.

A word of caution about colors. What I see on my screen in the office is not necessarily what J.D. sees on his screen in the workshop or what you will see on your device. And if you are printing something out, there are even more possible differences. Use your own color choices on any of these designs.

Before we leave the 12-square designs above, here are the three designs as I have expanded them to 16-square designs.

The first one is done in the same way I changed the smaller squares to 12-squares. I took more liberties with the second one, repeating some parts of the design and modifying others. Bear in mind that none of my designs are the only way to "grow" the designs. You need to find your own ways to do that to make designs that please you. I have taken even more liberties with the third design, repeating none of either the dark or light elements exactly as I expanded the design, while keeping the "feel' of the design.

Letter chart

There is another way to record graphed designs, and this one can be done in any color combination that you desire.  Instead of filling in colors on a design sample that you like, put in alphabet letters for each of the colors that you used.  You can then experiment with different color combinations and record alphabetically the ones you want to keep. This diagram will show you what I mean.

Each of the little squares in the design could represent a single stitch on canvas or even-weave fabric, a square of upright gobelin, a much larger square of fabric, or even a floor tile. Let's revisit one of those designs. Instead of taking one of the little squares as the basis of our design, this time let's consider the entire three-inch square as a single, repeatable part of our design. I chose to make this design in analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel) because I wanted to make some points about color combinations. Analogous colors reflect wavelengths of colored light that are closely related Since these colors are closely related, we are pretty well assured of a pleasant design. I chose blue-green, blue, and blue-violet for my color combination, but you need not use those colors if you want to try others. For a trio of warm. bright colors, you might choose red-orange/ orange/ yellow-orange (the exact opposite of the three I chose), for example.

Notice that I have used one light color, one medium color, and one dark color (a tint, a tone, and a shade) in each design. I do this to make it easier to place each color when I begin "growing" the design. Each color is in the same set of squares on all three versions of the design; only the intensity of the colors changes. As you can see, which color is emphasized most does alter the design — a fact you will need to consider not only when "growing" your design, but also before choosing the yarns, fabrics, paints or other materials for your final project. Changing the positions of the colors as well as the intensity will give you even more varied results. I "grew" all three of the blue-green/blue/blue-violet designs. Here are the expanded designs.

Annake at work

Somewhere in the midst of all this, J.D. slipped up behind me and snapped this picture of my worktable, with the designs in progress. (He says he wanted to show you how much work I do before I publish anything for my readers. I think he just wanted to show what a mess my worktable usually is!)

This design technique is called tiling. It is an ancient art form used originally for creating inlays and mosaics. It was used in Mediterranean civilizations long before those of the Greeks and Romans. The earliest known mosaics were made in Mesopotamia before 2,000 BC (BCE)  Just recently there was news of a remarkable mosaic discovered in the ancient city of Hippo.

Of course, I do a lot of preliminary work on the computer to save time.  One place where this comes in handy is in choosing the background color for a geometric center design.  What J.D. does is put up the center design on screen and then "flood" the background of the design with a variety of colors to see how they compare. J.D. did this electronically.  Here are the ones we liked best.

We often show pieces of finished work without showing the design patterns.   Here are three that are suitable for tiling in one or more of the ways we have discussed in this article.

So far we have worked with patterns based on small squares or rectangles because they are so easy to duplicate on standard graph paper. When we return to this topic in the future, we will discuss other base shapes like triangles and hexagons.

Have fun with your design experiments.

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.