elevations from which hairs arise. The body of the immature larva generally tapers from before backward (see Plate III, Figs. 7 and 11). The mature larva is cylindrical in form, sometimes, as in the Satyrinæ, thicker in the middle. Often one or more of the segments are greatly swollen in whole or in part. The larvæ are generally ornamented with fleshy projections or branching spines. Chrysalids.-The chrysalids are for the most part angular, and often have strongly marked projections. As a rule, they hang with the head downward, having the cremaster, or anal hook, attached to a button of silk woven to the under surface of a limb of a tree, a stone, or some other projecting surface. A few boreal species construct loose coverings of threads of silk at the roots of grasses, and here undergo their transformations. The chrysalids are frequently ornamented with golden or silvery spots. This is the largest of all the families of butterflies, and it is also the most widely distributed. It is represented by species which have their abode in the cold regions of the far North and upon the lofty summits of mountains, where summer reigns for but a few weeks during the year; and it is enormously developed in equatorial lands, including here some of the most gloriously colored species in the butterfly world. But although these insects appear to have attained their most superb development in the tropics, they are more numerous in the temperate regions than other butterflies, and a certain fearlessness, and fondness for the haunts of men, which seems to characterize some of them, has brought them more under the eyes of observers. The literature of poetry and prose which takes account of the life of the butterfly has mainly dealt with forms belonging to this great assemblage of species. In the classification of the brush-footed butterflies various subdivisions have been suggested by learned authors, but the species found in the United States and the countries lying northward upon the continent may be all included in the following six groups, or subfamilies: 1. The Euplaina, the Euploids. 2. The Ithomiina, the Ithomiids. 3. The Heliconiina, the Heliconians. 4. The Nymphalina, the Nymphs. 5. The Satyrinæ, the Satyrs. 6. The Libytheina, the Snout-butterflies. The insects belonging to these different subfamilies may be distinguished by the help of the following analytical table, which is based upon that of Professor Comstock, given in his "Manual for the Study of Insects" (p. 396), which in turn is based upon that of Dr. Scudder, in "The Butterflies of New England (vol. i, p. 115). KEY TO THE SUBFAMILIES OF THE NYMPHALIDE OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA I. With the veins of the fore wings not greatly swollen at the base. A. Antennæ naked. (a) Fore wings less than twice as long as broad-Euplæinæ. (b) Fore wings twice as long as broad and often translucent, the abdomen extending far beyond the inner margin of the hind wings -It bomiina. B. Antennæ clothed with scales, at least above. (a) Fore wings at least twice as long as broad-Heliconiina. 1. Palpi not as long as the thorax-Nymphalinæ. II. With some of the veins of the fore wings greatly swollen at the base—Satyrinæ. We now proceed to present the various genera and species of this family which occur within the territorial limits of which this book treats. The reader will do well to accompany the study of the descriptions, which are at most mere sketches, by a careful examination of the figures in the plates. In this way a very clear idea of the different species can in most instances be obtained. But with the study of the book should always go, if possible, the study of the living things themselves. Knowledge of nature founded upon books is at best second-hand. To the fields and the woods, then, net in hand! Splendid as may be the sight of a great collection of butterflies from all parts of the world, their wings (6 Gleaming with purple and gold," no vision is so exquisite and so inspiring as that which greets the true aurelian as in shady dell or upon sun-lit upland, with the blue sky above him and the flowers all around him, he pursues his pleasant, self-imposed tasks, drinking in health at every step. Butterfly.-Large butterflies; head large; the antennæ inserted on the summit, stout, naked, that is to say, not covered with scales, the club long and not broad; palpi stout; the thorax somewhat compressed, with the top arched. The abdomen is moderately stout, bearing on the eighth segment, on either side, in the case of the male, clasps which are quite conspicuous. The fore wings are greatly produced at the apex and more or less excavated about the middle of the outer border; the hind wings are rounded and generally much smaller than the fore wings; the outer margin is regular, without tails, and the inner margin is sometimes channeled so as to enfold the abdomen. The fore legs are greatly atrophied in the male, less so in the female; these atrophied legs are not provided with claws, but on the other legs the claws are well developed. Egg. The eggs are ovate conical, broadly flattened at the base and slightly truncated at the top, with many longitudinal ribs and transverse cross-ridges (see Fig. 4). Caterpillar.-On emerging from the chrysalis the head is not larger than the body; the body has a few scattered hairs on each |