W. J. Holland

“ The thing, which has slept as if in a coffin, comes forth on airy wings to disport itself among the flowers. Little wonder that poets have seen in this transformation an emblem of the Resurrection!
Some of the butterflies of the United States belong to genera which are not confined to this country, but which occur also in the Eastern Hemisphere. Indeed, some few species are identically the same as are found in Europe and Asia. The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and the Mourning Cloak (Vanessa antiopa) are as familiar to English and German schoolboys as they are to boys in America. ”

“ Silk is a viscous fluid secreted by long glands, which are near the back of the caterpillar, and communicate with a little, tubelike organ near the jaws, called the spinneret, through which the silk is voided, instantly becoming, on contact with the air, a tough elastic fiber. Out of the silk thus secreted the caterpillars of butterflies spin threads, which they lay along the leaves and branches to guide themselves from place to place. From the silk many species weave little shelters, or tents, in which they are protected through the cold of winter. ”

“ To learn what I have involved a large outlay of money and much patient study. When, therefore, it was suggested to me to prepare a comprehensive book on the butterflies of the United States and Canada I resolved to undertake the task; if for no other reason, to spare the rising generation of young Americans from the expense and trouble to which I had been subjected in trying to master the subject. ”

“ Found wherever the thistle grows, it is therefore one of the most widely distributed of all butterflies (as the thistle is one of the most widely distributed of all plants) , fluttering over the purple blooms in the temperate regions of both hemispheres and in many tropical lands as well. It is hard to distinguish the Painted Lady from Hunter’s butterfly on the left. If, however, we should look on the under side of the hind wings, we should find that the Hunter’s butterfly has two large eyelike spots there, and the Painted Lady numerous and smaller eyelike spots. ”

“ The Tiger Swallowtail has a tendency to produce dark forms; and the dark form of the female was long regarded as a distinct species until it was discovered that some eggs produced by yellow females produced black females, and conversely some eggs produced by black females produced yellow females.
The brilliant butterfly poised on the blades of grass on the left is the well known Red Admiral, familiar throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It belongs to the “Brush-footed” race. Below it a little Sulphur shows the inside of its wings. ”

“ The same volume shows that no less than two hundred and twenty-five new species of butterflies alone were described during the year, besides a host of so-called varieties. The new species were principally from Africa, Asia, and South America.
As I have said, butterflies are “scaly-winged insects.” Anyone who has ever taken a moth or butterfly into his fingers has observed that the creature in its struggles leaves behind a dustlike substance. Examined under a microscope, this is seen to be composed of minute scales. Magnified forms of some of these scales are represented in Figure 1 ”

“ Butterflies form one of the two suborders of the order Lepidoptera, or “scaly-winged insects.” There are many orders of insects. Lord Walsingham some years ago in an address stated that there were not less than three million species of insects in this little world of ours. Tens of thousands of species of Lepidoptera have already been named and classified. Of butterflies there are twenty thousand species and varieties known, and of moths there are about five times as many. In the United States we have about six hundred and fifty species of butterflies, and six thousand species of moths. ”

“ A little below is the Common Sooty Wing, black on both sides of the wings with a series of little spots. It belongs to all of North America. The New Mexican Sooty Wing is in full flight at the upper left corner. It is common in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The brown one, the Sleepy Dusky Wing flying downward in the center and the large black one below the Common Sooty Wing belong to the genus Thanaos, the Dusky Wings, a group which reaches its largest development in North America. They are all dark; but a few varieties have bright spots on their hind wings. ”

“ America is rich in species belonging to the family of the Hesperiidæ or “Skippers.” They are well named, as anyone who has watched them skipping and gamboling among the flowers can testify. They seem to be in some respects intermediate between the other butterflies and the moths.
An adequate account of the breeding of butterflies and of the methods of preserving them for study and display would require another article. ”

“ Their organs for hearing, if they have any, are located upon their legs, as they are in the grasshoppers and other insects. But butterflies do not appear to be talkative, as the grasshoppers and crickets are; though some species can make curious clicking sounds, as some moths can make squeaking sounds. That they can taste is more than likely. Connected with the proboscis of butterflies, through which they suck the honey of flowers, there are, no doubt, gustatory nerves. Their brains, if the nerve-knot in the head can be so called, are not very large ”

“ GUIDE TO BUTTERFLIES
By Samuel Hubbard Scudder.
22 uncolored plates, showing about 100 species.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST
By W. G. Wright.
32 colored plates, with figures of 487 species.
THE OPEN LETTER
There are no small things in Nature, whatever the text-books say. All things in life are large and important if we will but have them so. The terms “large” and “small” are simply relative. To the eye of the insect world the delicate butterfly is a monster with widespread wings that completely cover the sky. ”

“ The larvæ of most butterflies and moths feed on vegetable food; but there are some curious species, even of butterflies, which are carnivorous, the caterpillars of which devour mealy bugs and the larvæ of ants. The ant-eating species are found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. ”

“ A group of these insects is shown in one of the plates. The reader will observe how great a difference there is between the males and the females, especially of Argynnis Diana. When the sexes thus differ they are said to be “sexually dimorphic.” There are other kinds of dimorphism. When butterflies have several broods it has been observed that those of the spring brood differ in form and markings from those of the summer brood, and again from those which come forth in the fall of the year. Such species are said to be “seasonally dimorphic.” ”

“ The process of transformation is wonderful, and well repays attention. Among butterflies there are three kinds of chrysalids,—those which are pendant from a knob of silk, those which are supported by girdles as well as by a silken knob, and those which are free and lie loose between leaves and rubbish, stitched together with a few strands of silk. ”

“ The purpose of The Mentor Association is to give its members, in an interesting and attractive way, the information in various fields of knowledge which everybody wants to have. The information is imparted by interesting reading matter, prepared under the direction of leading authorities, and by beautiful pictures, produced by the most highly perfected modern processes. ”

“ But the love of living things survived, and when, at last settled in active professional life, I began to feel the need of some pursuit which would furnish a physical as well as intellectual recreation, I reverted to the study of insects. ”

“ In an entirely different family are classed the Sulphurs, belonging to the genus Colias. They are medium-seized butterflies, yellow or orange in hue, with black borders upon their wings. Though there are many varieties, ranging from the palest primrose to the deepest orange, and varying also in size as well as color, yet, in the main, the species is remarkably constant. ”

“ A small matter like that does not disturb the entomologist, who has other ways of testing than diversities of color and form. He looks at the anatomy of the insect, and no amount of mimicry can save the pretender from being properly classified. ”

“ Butterflies can see. They have, as all insects have, compound eyes, made up of a number of facets, so that they can look upward, downward, forward, and backward all at the same time. Their antennæ (or feelers, as they are sometimes erroneously called) are most probably organs for smelling. ”

“ There comes a critical moment when the creature has wriggled itself nearly out of its skin, and when the only thing to keep it hanging in its place is a fold of this skin caught, as shown at c, between two segments or rings of the abdomen. ”

“ They are fluted, ribbed, pitted, sculptured, in a multitude of ways. In color they are as various as the eggs of birds. Figure 3 shows the egg of the Viceroy (Basilarchia disippus) , one of the Admirals belonging to the same group of insects as those which are figured on one of the plates of “The Butterfly Book,” reproduced with this article. Figure 4 shows the egg of the Monarch, or common “Milkweed butterfly” (Anosia plexippus) , which the Viceroy mimics in the color and markings of its wings.
Fig. 11
WING OF THE VICEROY
The scales removed to show the arrangement of wings
Fig. ”

“ The Sulphurs also swarm in moist places by the wayside, and rise from pools and ruts in the roads at the approach of persons or vehicles. The butterflies in this family have six walking feet. The family, the Papilionidæ, which includes the Swallowtails and their allies, the Sulphurs and Whites, is very large. ”

“ SPRING BUTTERFLIES
1. Pyrameis Cordui, Linn. (The Painted Lady) , ♂ (male) 2. P. Huntera, Fabr. (Hunter’s Butterfly) , ♂ (male) 3. Grapta Interrogationis, Fabr. (The Question Sign) , ♂ (male) 4. Colias Philodice, Godt., ♂ (male) 5. Colias Philodice (The Clouded Sulphur) , ♀ (female) 6. Vanessa Antiopa, Linn. (The Mourning Cloak) , ♀ (female)
BUTTERFLIES
THISTLE BUTTERFLIES, ANGLE WINGS, AND SULPHURS Monograph Number Six in The Mentor Reading Course
Winged flowers, or flying gems.—Moore. ”