The Butterfly Book. W. J. Holland

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СКАЧАТЬ lasting memorial of the colossal industry and vast learning of the author, one of the most eminent scientific men whom America has produced.

      While the two great works which have been mentioned have illustrated to the highest degree not only the learning of their authors, but the vast advances which have been made in the art of illustration within the last thirty years, they do not stand alone as representing the activity of students in this field. A number of smaller, but useful, works have appeared from time to time. Among these must be mentioned "The Butterflies of the Eastern United States," by Professor G.H. French. This book, which contains four hundred and two pages and ninety-three figures in the text, was published in Philadelphia in 1886. It is an admirable little work, with the help of which the student may learn much in relation to the subject; but it greatly lacks in illustration, without which all such publications are not attractive or thoroughly useful to the student. In the same year appeared "The Butterflies of New England," by C.J. Maynard, a quarto containing seventy-two pages of text and eight colored plates, the latter very poor. In 1878 Herman Strecker of Reading, Pennsylvania, published a book entitled "Butterflies and Moths of North America," which is further entitled "A Complete Synonymical Catalogue." It gives only the synonymy of some four hundred and seventy species of butterflies, and has never been continued by the author, as was apparently his intention. It makes no mention of the moths, except upon the title-page. For the scientific student it has much value, but is of no value to a beginner. The same author published in parts a work illustrated by fifteen colored plates, entitled "Lepidoptera-Rhopaloceres and Heteroceres—Indigenous and Exotic," which came out from 1872 to 1879, and contains recognizable figures of many North American species.

      In 1891 there appeared in Boston, from the pen of C.J. Maynard, a work entitled "A Manual of North American Butterflies." This is illustrated by ten very poorly executed plates and a number of equally poorly executed cuts in the text. The work is unfortunately characterized by a number of serious defects which make its use difficult and unsatisfactory for the correct determination of species and their classification.

      In 1893 Dr. Scudder published two books, both of them useful, though brief, one of them entitled "The Life of a Butterfly," the other, "A Brief Guide to the Commoner Butterflies of the Northern United States and Canada." Both of these books were published in New York by Messrs. Henry Holt & Co., and contain valuable information in relation to the subject, being to a certain extent an advance upon another work published in 1881 by the same author and firm, entitled "Butterflies."

      Periodical Literature.—The reader must not suppose that the only literature relating to the subject that we are considering is to be found in the volumes that have been mentioned. The original descriptions and the life-histories of a large number of the species of the butterflies of North America have originally appeared in the pages of scientific periodicals and in the journals and proceedings of different learned societies. Among the more important publications which are rich in information in regard to our theme may be mentioned the publications relating to entomology issued by the United States National Museum, the United States Department of Agriculture, and by the various American commonwealths, chief among the latter being Riley's "Missouri Reports." Exceedingly valuable are many of the papers contained in the "Transactions of the American Entomological Society," "Psyche," the "Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society" (1872–85), "Papilio" (1881–84), "Entomologica Americana" (1885–90), the "Journal of the New York Entomological Society," the "Canadian Entomologist," and "Entomological News." All of these journals are mines of original information, and the student who proposes to master the subject thoroughly will do well to obtain, if possible, complete sets of these periodicals, as well as of a number of others which might be mentioned, and to subscribe for such of them as are still being published.

      There are a number of works upon general entomology, containing chapters upon the diurnal lepidoptera, which may be consulted with profit. Among the best of these are the following: "A Guide to the Study of Insects," by A.S. Packard, Jr., M.D. (Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1883, pp. 715, 8vo); "A Textbook of Entomology," by Alpheus S. Packard, M.D., etc. (The Macmillan Company, New York, 1898, pp. 729, 8vo); "A Manual for the Study of Insects," by John Henry Comstock (Comstock Publishing Company, Ithaca, New York, 1895, pp. 701, 8vo).

      HUGO'S "FLOWER TO BUTTERFLY"

      "Sweet, live with me, and let my love Be an enduring tether; Oh, wanton not from spot to spot, But let us dwell together. "You've come each morn to sip the sweets With which you found me dripping, Yet never knew it was not dew, But tears, that you were sipping. "You gambol over honey meads Where siren bees are humming; But mine the fate to watch and wait For my beloved's coming. "The sunshine that delights you now Shall fade to darkness gloomy; You should not fear if, biding here, You nestled closer to me. "So rest you, love, and be my love, That my enraptured blooming May fill your sight with tender light, Your wings with sweet perfuming. "Or, if you will not bide with me Upon this quiet heather, Oh, give me wing, thou beauteous thing, That we may soar together."

      Eugene Field.

THE BUTTERFLIES

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OF

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NORTH AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO

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      "Lo, the bright train their radiant wings unfold! With silver fringed, and freckled o'er with gold: On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower They, idly fluttering, live their little hour; Their life all pleasure, and their task all play, All spring their age, and sunshine all their day."

      Mrs. Barbauld

ORDER LEPIDOPTERA

       SUBORDER RHOPALOCERA (BUTTERFLIES)

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FAMILY I

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NYMPHALIDÆ (THE BRUSH-FOOTED BUTTERFLIES)

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      The family of the Nymphalidæ is composed of butterflies which are of medium and large size, though a few of the genera are made up of species which are quite small. They may be distinguished from all other butterflies by the fact that the first pair of legs in both sexes is atrophied or greatly reduced in size, so that they cannot be used in walking, but are carried folded up upon the breast. The fore feet, except in the case of the female of the snout-butterflies (Libytheinæ), are without tarsal claws, and hence the name "Brush-footed Butterflies" has been applied to them. As the anterior pair of legs is apparently useless, they have been called "The Four-footed Butterflies," which is scientifically a misnomer.

      Egg.—The eggs of the Nymphalidæ, for the most part, are dome-shaped or globular, and are marked with raised longitudinal lines extending from the summit toward the base over the entire surface or over the upper portion of the egg. Between these elevations are often found finer and less elevated cross-lines. СКАЧАТЬ