W. J. Holland

“ The metropolis of this species seems to be the wooded forests of the Appalachian ranges at comparatively low levels. It abounds in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Virginias, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I have often found as many as a dozen of these magnificent butterflies congregated on a moist spot on the banks of the Monongahela. At Berkeley Springs, in West Virginia, I counted, one summer day, forty specimens hovering over the weeds and flowers in a small deserted field. The movements of the butterfly on the wing are bold and rapid. ”

“ At the base of all truly scientific knowledge lies the principle of order. There have been some who have gone so far as to say that science is merely the orderly arrangement of facts. While such a definition is defective, it is nevertheless true that no real knowledge of any branch of science is attained until its relationship to other branches of human knowledge is learned, and until a classification of the facts of which it treats has been made. ”

“ The black markings on the upper side of the wings in both sexes are narrower, the dusky clouding at the base of the wings is less pronounced, and the ground-color is brighter reddish-fulvous than in aphrodite. On the under side the fore wings lack in the male the pinkish shade at the base and on the inner margin which appears in aphrodite, and both the male and the female have the inner two thirds of the hind wings deep cinnamon-red, with only a very narrow buff submarginal band, deeply invaded on the side of the base by rays of the deeper brown color of the inner portion of the wing. ”

“ The period of time requisite for the development of the embryo in the egg varies. Many butterflies are single-brooded; others produce two or three generations during the summer in temperate climates, and even more generations in subtropical or tropical climates. In such cases an interval of only a few days, or weeks at the most, separates the time when the egg was deposited and the time when the larva is hatched. When the period of hatching, or emergence, has arrived, the little caterpillar cuts its way forth from the egg through an opening made either at the side or on the top. ”

“ Nothing in the realm of nature is more wonderful than the manner in which some of the most minute animal forms resist cold. The genera Erebia and Œneis, and many species of the genus Brenthis, are, as we have already learned, inhabitants of the arctic regions or of lofty Alpine summits, the climate of which is arctic. ”

“ Small white wings that we scarce can see Fly. Here and there may a chance-caught eye Note, in a score of you, twain or three Brighter or darker of tinge or dye; Some fly light as a laugh of glee, Some fly soft as a long, low sigh: All to the haven where each would be,— Fly." Swinburne.
Butterfly.—For the most part medium-sized or small butterflies, white or yellow in color, with dark marginal markings. In many genera the subcostal vein of the fore wing has five, or even in some cases six nervules, and the upper radial is lacking in this wing. ”

“ The cell of the fore wing is less than two thirds the length of the costa. The lower radial arises much nearer to the third median nervule than to the upper radial. The hind wing is elongated, but never tailed. The male is never provided on the fore wing with a costal fold, but is in many genera furnished with a discal stigma on the fore wing. When in a state of rest the majority of the species elevate their fore wings and depress their hind wings, an attitude which is peculiar to the insects of this group. ”

“ All over Europe, all over North America, in Africa,—save in the dense jungles of the Congo,—throughout South America, in far-off Australia, and in many of the islands of the sea this beautiful butterfly is found. ”

“ The annual loss suffered by agricultural communities through ignorance of entomological facts is very great. Every plant has its insect enemy, or, more correctly, its insect lover, which feeds upon it, delights in its luxuriance, but makes short work, it may be of leaves, it may be of flowers, it may be of fruit. It has been estimated that every known species of plant has five or six [ 257] species of insects which habitually feed upon it. ”

“ The collection in the latter institution is altogether the largest and most perfect collection of the butterflies of North America in existence, and covers also very largely the butterflies of the world, there being about twelve thousand species of butterflies represented, including representatives of all known genera.
The formation of great collections has always had a charm for those who have possessed the knowledge, the time, and the means to form them ”

“ 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. ”

“ Among the strangest of recent discoveries is Ornithoptera paradisea, which is found in New Guinea. The male has the hind wings produced in the form of a very delicate and slender tail; the upper surfaces of the wing are broadly marked with shining green and lustrous orange upon a velvety-black ground. The female is black with white spots, slightly marked with yellow, being obscure in color, as is for the most part characteristic of this sex among butterflies, as well as other animals. ”

“ The ways of scientific men sometimes appear strange, mysterious, bordering even upon the insane, to those who are uninitiated. A celebrated American naturalist relates that on one occasion, when chasing butterflies through a meadow belonging to a farmer, the latter came out and viewed him with manifest anxiety. But when the nature of the efforts of the man of science had been finally explained, the farmer heaved a sigh of relief, remarking, in Pennsylvania Dutch, that "he had surely thought, when he first saw him, that he had just escaped from a lunatic asylum." ”

“ When collecting in Japan I made it a rule to return in the morning to the spots that I had sugared for moths the evening before, and I was always amply repaid by finding multitudes of butterflies and even a good many day-flying moths seated upon the mossy bark, feasting upon the remnants of the banquet I had provided the evening before. There is no sport—I do not except that of the angler—which is more fascinating than the sport derived by an enthusiastic entomologist from the practice of "sugaring." ”

“ 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. ”

“ The twig may be cut and placed in a vase, in water, and kept fresh until the minute caterpillar emerges, and then from time to time it may be transferred to fresh leaves of the same species of plant, and it will continue to make its moults until at last it is transformed into a chrysalis, and in due season the butterfly emerges. Eggs may frequently be obtained in considerable numbers by confining the female under gauze, with the appropriate food-plant. A knowledge of the food-plant may often be obtained by watching the female and observing upon what plants she deposits her eggs. ”

“ Protective mimicry as it occurs in animals may be the simulation in form or color, or both, of natural objects, or it may be the simulation of the form and color of another animal, which for some reason enjoys immunity from the attacks of species which ordinarily prey upon its kind. ”

“ Some arctic species are known in which the development from the egg to the perfect insect covers a period of two or three years, long periods of hibernation under the arctic snows taking place. The manner in which the caterpillar withdraws itself from its exuviæ, or old skin, is highly interesting. Every little spine or rough prominence is withdrawn from its covering, and the skin is left as a perfect cast of the creature which has emerged from it, even the hairs and spines attached to the skin being left behind and replaced by others. ”

“ The importance of entomology, while not perceived by the masses as yet, has been recognized by almost all the legislatures of the States; and not only the general government of the United States, but the governments of the individual commonwealths, are at the present time employing a number of carefully trained men, whose business is to [ 258] ascertain the facts and instruct the people as to the best manner in which to ward off the attacks of the insect swarms, which are respecters neither of size nor beauty in the vegetable world, attacking alike the majestic oak and the lowliest mosses. ”

“ Some butterflies, for instance, resemble dried leaves, and as they are seated upon the twigs of trees they wholly elude the eye. This illustrates the first form of mimicry. Other butterflies so closely approximate in form and color species which birds and other insects will not attack, because of the disagreeable juices which their bodies contain, that they are shunned by their natural enemies, in spite of the fact that they belong to groups of insects which are ordinarily greedily devoured by birds and other animals. ”

“ Butterflies are diurnal in their habits, flying between sunrise and dusk, and very rarely taking the wing at night. This habit is so universal that these insects are frequently called by entomologists "the diurnal lepidoptera," or are simply spoken of as "diurnals." It is, however, true that many species of moths are also diurnal in their habits, though the great majority of them are nocturnal, or crepuscular, that is, flying at the dusk of the evening, or in the twilight of the early morning. ”

“ Among the insects, because of their beauty, butterflies have always held a foremost place in the regard of the amateur collector. For the lack, however, of suitable instruction in the art of preserving specimens, and, above all, by reason of the almost entire lack of a convenient and well-illustrated manual, enabling the collector to identify, name, and properly classify the collections which he is making, much of the labor expended in this direction in the United States and Canada fails to accomplish more than the furnishing of temporary recreation. ”