Are any butterflies useful to man?

The moths and the butterflies developed during the Jurassic Period of earths history when the lumbering dinosaurs were at the peals of their reign. This means that they have been here millions of years longer than the human family. Their long history shows that they are very successful at the game of life.

For more than a hundred million years, assorted butterflies fluttered around filling a vital role in the scheme of nature. Their eggs provided food for all sorts of other animals which in turn enriched the soil with their bodies, Their caterpillars fed on various plants and maybe kept some of the vegetation in check. Many of them also were eaten and they, too, provided food. Some adult buttarfliea visited flowers and maybe carried a little pollen from one blossom to the next   and so fertilized a few seeds.

Then came man, the first intelligent earthling. He noticed the moths and butterflies and in time he managed to count most of the different varieties. He gave them common names and later more scientific names. There are more than 120,000 different kinds of moths and butterflies and man, the intelligent earthling, has classified them in the insect order Lepidoptera   scaly wings,

The caterpillars of the various butterflies still feed on plants. We regard the monarch caterpillar, who feeds on milkweed, and the buckeye caterpillar, who feeds on plantain weeds, as our friends, We regard the caterpillar of the cabbage butterfly as a foe because he eats our cabbages. We also number the viceroy and mourning cloak caterpillars among our foes because they eat the leaves of willows and poplars. Other caterpillars devour our grass, alfalfa and pea crops.

But we tend to forget that all these creatures play a vital part in the balance of nature, Our soil would be poorer and countless other creatures would starve without them. Poor soil produces poor plants  and the plant world provides us with the oxygen we breathe. It also provides our food and the food of the animals that give us meat and dairy products.

Adult butterflies flutter around like scraps of vivid velvet, their lifetime is short, for most of them lay their eggs and perish. But they add a touch of glamour and our world would be less beautiful without them,

Now is the time to start your collection of butterflies. As you work on this pleasant job, they will inspire you with interest and admiration, This may, after all, be one of their most useful of gifts. In any case, it is all that the average butterfly has to give us.