Kathryn Brown, age 11, of Lansing Mich. , for her  question:

How do moths and butterflies differ?

Spring is upon us and all kinds of insects will soon be hatching after their long winter sleep. Those of us who care about our wonderful world will notice them and want to ask questions.

Now to the moths and the butterflies. If you learn to identify them early in the summer you are well equipped to start a fascinating insect collection. All moths and butterflies, of course, are insects and belong to the great animal class Insects. To be classed as an insect, an animal must have six legs and a body in three parts   head, thorax and abdomen. The vast horde of insects is subdivided into about 25 orders, Moths and butterflies belong to the order Lepidoptera   the scaley winged ones.

Under the microscope, their velvety wings look like fairy cities of clear plastic buildings. Our eyes see the colors as light bounces off these scaley surfaces. All butterflies and moths have two pairs of these scaley wings.

The class Lepidoptera is subdivided into some 80 families. There are about 75 families of moths and five of butterflies, tile cannot tell them apart on the basis of beauty. The pale green luna moth is dust as beautiful as a lovely swallowtail butterfly. The first question is when did you find your specimen flying  around?

If it was broad daylight, chances are he is a butterfly. Moths prefer to flutter around at night. There are also differences in the body and the antennae. The butterfly has a slim and slender body. The antennae too are long and slender and each ends in a little knob.

The body of a moth is shorter and chubby, often covered with dense velvety fuzz. This fuzz is not fur. It is the same scaley material. which. covers his velvety wings. His antennae are short and also very fuzzy. They look like delicate leaves, tapered at each end and gracefully fringed; Andy saved the easiest way to tell the moths from the butterflies until last   as a sort of dessert after you got all the other facts. Watch your insect land. If he folds his wings together above his back, he is a butterfly. If he settles down and refits with wings outspread, he is a moth.