The Butterfly Book
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Title: The Butterfly Book
Author: W. J. Holland
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUTTERFLY BOOK ***
[Illustration Front cover]
THE BUTTERFLY BOOK
[Illustration PLATE I, Frontispiece. SPRING BUTTERFLIES. Pyrameis
Cardui, Linn., ♂ (The Painted Lady); 2. P. Huntera, Fabr., ♂ (Hunter's
Butterfly); 3. Grapta Interrogationis, Fabr., ♂ (The Question Sign); 4.
Colias Philodice, Godt., ♂; 5. Do., ♀ (The Clouded Sulphur); 6. Vanessa
Antiopa, Linn., ♀ (The Mourning Cloak). COPYRIGHTED BY W.J. HOLLAND,
1898]
THE BUTTERFLY BOOK
A POPULAR GUIDE TO A KNOWLEDGE
OF THE BUTTERFLIES OF
NORTH AMERICA
BY
W.J. HOLLAND, PH.D., D.D., LL.D.
CHANCELLOR OF THE WESTERN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA; DIRECTOR OF THE
CARNEGIE MUSEUM, PITTSBURGH, PA.; FELLOW OF THE ZOÖLOGICAL AND
ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETIES OF LONDON; MEMBER OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY
OF FRANCE, ETC., ETC.
WITH 48 PLATES IN COLOR-PHOTOGRAPHY, REPRODUCTIONS
OF BUTTERFLIES IN THE AUTHOR'S COLLECTION,
AND MANY TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS PRESENTING
MOST OF THE SPECIES FOUND IN THE UNITED STATES
[Illustration]
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1922
COPYRIGHT, 1898,
BY W.J. HOLLAND.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y.
TO MY GOOD WIFE
AND MY TWO BONNY BOYS,
THE COMPANIONS OF MY LEISURE HOURS
AND MY VACATION RAMBLES,
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK,
WITHOUT ASKING THEIR PERMISSION
PREFACE
At some time or other in the life of every healthy young person there
appears to be developed what has been styled "the collecting mania."
Whether this tendency is due to the natural acquisitiveness of the human
race, to an innate appreciation of the beautiful and the curious, or to
the development of an instinct such as is possessed by the bower-bird,
the magpie, and the crow, which have the curious habit of gathering
together and storing away trifles which are bright and attractive to the
eye, I leave to students of the mind to decide. The fact is patent that
there is no village without its youthful enthusiast whose collection of
postage-stamps is dear to his heart, and no town in which there are not
amateur geologists, archæologists, botanists, and zoölogists, who are
eagerly bent upon the formation of collections of such objects as
possess an attraction for them.
One of the commonest pursuits of boyhood is the formation of a
collection of insects. The career of almost every naturalist of renown
has been marked in its early stages by a propensity to collect these
lower, yet most interesting and instructive, forms of animal life. 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. It is
otherwise in Europe. Manuals, comprehensive in scope, and richly adorned
with illustrations of the leading insect forms of Great Britain and the
Continent, have been produced in great numbers in recent years in
England, France, and Germany. The result is that the youthful collector
enters the field in those countries in the possession of a vast
advantage over his less fortunate American fellow. It is to meet this
want on this side of the Atlantic that this volume has been written. Its
aim is to guide the amateur collector in right paths and to prepare him
by the intelligent accomplishment of his labors for the enjoyment of
still wider and more difficult researches in this and allied fields of
human knowledge. The work is confined to the fauna of the continent of
North America north of the Rio Grande of Texas. It is essentially
popular in its character. Those who seek a more technical treatment must
resort to the writings of others.
If I shall succeed in this book in creating a more wide-spread interest
in the world of insect life and thereby diverting attention in a measure
from the persecuted birds, which I love, but which are in many species
threatened with extinction by the too eager attentions which they are
receiving from young naturalists, who are going forth in increased
numbers with shot-gun in hand, I think I shall render a good service to
the country.
I flatter myself that I have possessed peculiar facilities for the
successful accomplishment of the undertaking I have proposed to myself,
because of the possession of what is admitted to be undoubtedly the
largest and most perfect collection of the butterflies of North America
in existence, containing the types of W.H. Edwards, and many of those
of other authors. I have also enjoyed access to all the other great
collections of this country and Europe, and have had at my elbow the
entire literature relating to the subject.
The successful development in recent months of the process of
reproducing in colors photographic representations of objects has been
to a certain degree the argument for the publication of this book at the
present time. A few years ago the preparation of such a work as this at
the low price at which it is sold would have been an utter
impossibility. "The Butterflies of North America," by W.H. Edwards,
published in three volumes, is sold at one hundred and fifty dollars,
and, as I know, is sold even at this price below the cost of
manufacture. "The Butterflies of New England," by Dr. S.H. Scudder, in
three volumes, is sold at seventy-five dollars, and likewise represents
at this price only a partial return to the learned author for the
money, labor, and time expended upon it. The present volume, while not
pretending to vie in any respect with the magnificence of the
illustrations contained in these beautiful and costly works,
nevertheless presents in recognizable form almost every species figured
in them, and in addition a multitude of others, many of which have never
before been delineated. So far as possible I have employed, in making
the illustrations, the original types from which the author of the
species drew his descriptions. This fact will no doubt add greatly to
the value of the work, as it will not only serve as a popular guide, but
have utility also for the scientific student.
I am under obligations to numerous friends and correspondents who have
aided me, and take the present opportunity to extend to them all my
hearty thanks for the generous manner in which they have assisted me in
my pleasant task. I should fail, however, to follow the instincts of a
grateful heart did I not render an especial acknowledgment to Mr. W.H.
Edwards, of Coalburg, West Virginia, and Dr. Samuel H. Scudder, of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Justly esteemed as the two foremost
lepidopterists of America, it is my honor to claim them as personal
friends, whose kindness has much aided me in this labor of scientific
love which I have undertaken. For the kind permission given me by Dr.
Scudder to use various illustrations contained in the "Butterflies of
New England" and other works, I am profoundly grateful.
I am under obligations to Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons for permission
to use the cuts numbered 46-49, 51-56, 59, 61, 62, and 73, which are
taken from the work entitled "Taxidermy and Zoölogical Collecting," by
W.T. Hornaday, and to the authorities of the United States National
Museum and the heirs of the late Professor C.V. Riley for other
illustrations.
Should this book find the favor which I have reason to think it
deserves, I shall endeavor shortly to follow it by the preparation of a
similar work upon the moths of the United States and Canada.
OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR, W.J.H.
WESTERN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
August 16, 1898.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE LIFE-HISTORY AND ANATOMY OF BUTTERFLIES 3-25
_The Eggs of Butterflies. Caterpillars_: Structure,
Form, Color, etc.; Moults; Food of Caterpillars; Duration of Larval
State; Transformation. _The Pupa, or Chrysalis_: The Form of
Chrysalids; Duration of Pupal Life; The Transformation from the
Chrysalis to the Imago. _Anatomy of Butterflies_: The Head; The
Thorax; The Abdomen; The Legs; The Wings; Internal Organs;
Polymorphism and Dimorphism; Albinism and Melanism; Monstrosities;
Mimicry. _The Distribution of Butterflies._
II. THE CAPTURE, PREPARATION, AND PRESERVATION OF
SPECIMENS 26-57
_Collecting Apparatus_: Nets; Collecting-Jars; Field-Boxes; The Use
of the Net; Baits; Beating. _The Breeding of Specimens_: How to Get
the Eggs of Butterflies; Breeding-Cages; How to Find Caterpillars;
Hibernating Caterpillars. _The Preservation of Specimens_: Papering
Specimens; Mounting Butterflies; Relaxing Specimens; The Preparation
and Preservation of Butterfly Eggs; The Preservation of Chrysalids;
The Preservation of Caterpillars. _The Preservation and
Arrangement of Collections_: Boxes; Cabinets and Drawers; Labeling;
Arrangement of Specimens; Insect Pests; Greasy Specimens;
Mould; Repairing Specimens; Packing and Forwarding Specimens;
Pins; The Forceps.
III. THE CLASSIFICATION OF BUTTERFLIES 58-68
The Place of Butterflies in the Animal Kingdom; The Principles of
Scientific Arrangement; The Species; The Genus; The Family, etc.;
Scientific Names; Synonyms; Popular Names.
IV. BOOKS ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES 69-74
Early Writers; Later Writers; Periodicals.
THE BOOK
PAGE
THE BUTTERFLIES OF NORTH AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO.
Family I. _Nymphalidae_, the Brush-footed Butterflies 77
Subfamily _Euplaeinae_, the Milkweed Butterflies 80
Subfamily _Ithomiinae_, the Long-winged Butterflies 85
Subfamily _Heliconiinae_, the Heliconians 91
Subfamily _Nymphalinae_, the Nymphs 93
Subfamily _Satyrinae_, the Satyrs, Meadow-browns,
and Arctics 197
Subfamily _Libytheinae_, the Snout-butterflies 226
Family II. _Lemoniidae_ 228
Subfamily _Erycininae_, the Metal-marks 228
Family III. _Lycaenidae_ 236
Subfamily _Lycaeninae_, the Hair-streaks,
the Blues, and the Coppers 236
Family IV. _Papilionidae_, the Swallowtails and Allies 272
Subfamily _Pierinae_, the Whites, the Sulphurs,
the Orange-tips 272
Subfamily _Papilioninae_, the Parnassians and Swallowtails 304
Family V. _Hesperiidae_, the Skippers 318
Subfamily _Pyrrhopyginae_ 319
Subfamily _Hesperiinae_, the Hesperids 320
Subfamily _Pamphilinae_ 339
Subfamily _Megathyminae_, genus Megathymus 367
DIGRESSIONS AND QUOTATIONS
PAGE
Immortality (Sigourney) 57
Hugo's "Flower to Butterfly" (Translated by Eugene Field) 74
Superstitions (Frank Cowan) 90
Luther's Saddest Experience (Yale Literary Magazine, 1852) 100
A Race after a Butterfly 127
Suspicious Conduct 136
Collecting in Japan 149
Faunal Regions 161
Widely Distributed Butterflies 171
The Butterflies' Fad (Ella Wheeler Wilcox) 186
Fossil Insects 195
In the Face of the Cold 224
Uncle Jotham's Boarder (Annie Trumbull Slosson) 233
Mimicry 235
The Utility of Entomology 256
Size 271
Instinct 280
Red Rain (Frank Cowan) 299
For a Design of a Butterfly Resting on a Skull (Mrs. Hemans) 303
The Caterpillar and the Ant (Allan Ramsay) 316
Collections and Collectors 337
Exchanges 344
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT
FIG. PAGE
1. Egg of Basilarchia disippus, magnified 3
2. Egg of Basilarchia disippus, natural size 3
3. Egg of Papilio turnus, enlarged 4
4. Egg of Anosia plexippus, magnified 4
5. Egg of Anosia plexippus, natural size 4
6. Egg of Anthocharis genutia, magnified 4
7. Egg of Lycæna pseudargiolus, magnified 4
8. Egg of Melitæa phaëton, magnified 4
9. Micropyle of egg of Pieris oleracea, magnified 5
10. Eggs of Grapta comma, magnified 5
11. Eggs of Vanessa antiopa, magnified 5
12. Caterpillar of Papilio philenor 6
13. Head of caterpillar of Papilio asterias, magnified 6
14. Head of caterpillar of Anosia plexippus, magnified 6
15. Head of caterpillar of Anosia plexippus, side view, enlarged 7
16. Caterpillar of Anosia plexippus, natural size 7
17. Fore leg of caterpillar of Vanessa antiopa, enlarged 7
18. Anterior segments of caterpillar of A. plexippus 7
19. Proleg of caterpillar of Vanessa antiopa, enlarged 7
20. Caterpillar of Basilarchia disippus 8
21. Early stages of goatweed butterfly 9
22. Head of caterpillar of Papilio troilus 9
23. Caterpillar of milkweed butterfly changing into chrysalis 11
24. Chrysalis of milkweed butterfly 12
25. Chrysalis of Papilio philenor 12
26. Caterpillar and chrysalis of Pieris protodice 12
27. Chrysalis of Pieris oleracea 13
28. Butterfly emerging from chrysalis 13
29. Head of milkweed butterfly, showing parts 14
30. Cross-section of sucking-tube of butterfly 15
31. Longitudinal section of the head of the milkweed butterfly 15
32. Interior structure of head of milkweed butterfly 16
33. Labial palpus of butterfly 16
34. Legs of butterfly 17
35. Parts of leg of butterfly 17
36. Scales on wing of butterfly 18
37. Androconia from wing of butterfly 18
38. Outline of wing of butterfly 20
39. Arrangement of scales on the wing of a butterfly 20
40. Figure of wing, showing names of veins 21
41. Internal anatomy of caterpillar of milkweed butterfly 22
42. Internal anatomy of milkweed butterfly 23
43. Plan for folding net-ring 27
44. Insect-net 27
45. Plan for making a cheap net 27
46. Cyanide-jar 29
47. Paper cover for cyanide 29
48. Method of pinching a butterfly 30
49. Cheap form of breeding-cage 35
50. Breeding-cage 36
51. Butterfly in envelope 38
52. Method of making envelopes 38
53. Setting-board 39
54. Setting-block 39
55. Butterfly on setting-block 39
56. Setting-needle 40
57. Setting-board with moth upon it 40
58. Butterfly pinned on setting-board 41
59. Drying-box 41
60. Drying-box 42
61. Apparatus for inflating larvæ 45
62. Tip of inflating-tube 46
63. Drying-oven 46
64. Drying-oven 47
65. Detail drawing of book-box 48
66. Detail drawing of box 48
67. Detail drawing of box 49
68. Insect-box 49
69. Detail drawing of drawer for cabinet 51
70. Detail drawing for paper bottom of box to take place of cork 52
71. Manner of arranging specimens in cabinet or box 52
72. Naphthaline cone 53
73. Butterflies packed for shipment 55
74. Forceps 56
75. Forceps 57
76. Antennæ of butterfly 61
77. Antennæ of moths 62
78. Neuration of genus Anosia 81
79. Swarm of milkweed butterflies, photographed at night 83
80. Neuration of genus Mechanitis 86
81. Neuration of genus Ceratinia 88
82. Neuration of genus Dircenna 89
83. Fore leg of female Dircenna klugi 89
84. Neuration of genus Heliconius 91
85. Young caterpillar of Vanessa antiopa 94
86. Neuration of genus Colænis 95
87. Neuration of genus Dione 96
88. Neuration of genus Euptoieta 98
89. Neuration of genus Argynnis 101
90. Neuration of genus Brenthis 129
91. Neuration of genus Melitæa 138
92. Neuration of genus Phyciodes 151
93. Neuration of genus Eresia 157
94. Neuration of genus Synchloë 159
95. Neuration of genus Grapta 163
96. Neuration of genus Vanessa 167
97. Neuration of genus Pyrameis 170
98. Neuration of genus Junonia 172
99. Neuration of genus Anartia 174
100. Neuration of genus Hypanartia 175
101. Neuration of genus Eunica 176
102. Neuration of genus Cystineura 177
103. Neuration of genus Callicore 178
104. Neuration of genus Timetes 179
105. Neuration of genus Hypolimnas 181
106. Neuration of genus Basilarchia 182
107. Leaf cut away at end by the caterpillar of Basilarchia 183
108. Hibernaculum of caterpillar of Basilarchia 183
109. Neuration of genus Adelpha 187
110. Neuration of genus Chlorippe 188
111. Neuration of genus Pyrrhanæa 192
112. Neuration of genus Ageronia 193
113. Neuration of genus Victorina 195
114. Neuration of genus Debis 199
115. Neuration of genus Satyrodes 200
116. Neuration of genus Neonympha 201
117. Neuration of genus Coenonympha 205
118. Neuration of genus Erebia 208
119. Neuration of genus Geirocheilus 211
120. Neuration of genus Neominois 212
121. Neuration of genus Satyrus 214
122. Neuration of genus OEneis 219
123. Caterpillars of OEneis macouni 221
124. Neuration of genus Libythea 226
125. Neuration of base of hind wing of genus Lemonias 228
126. Neuration of genus Lemonias 229
127. Neuration of genus Calephelis 232
128. Neuration of genus Eumæus 237
129. Neuration of Thecla edwardsi 238
130. Neuration of Thecla melinus 242
131. Neuration of Thecla damon 246
132. Neuration of Thecla niphon 249
133. Neuration of Thecla titus 250
134. Neuration of genus Feniseca 251
135. Neuration of genus Chrysophanus 252
136. Neuration of Lycæna pseudargiolus 267
137. Neuration of Lycæna comyntas 268
138. Neuration of genus Dismorphia 273
139. Neuration of genus Neophasia 274
140. Neuration of genus Tachyris 276
141. Neuration of genus Pieris 277
142. Neuration of genus Nathalis 281
143. Neuration of genus Euchloë 282
144. Neuration of genus Catopsilia 286
145. Neuration of genus Kricogonia 287
146. Neuration of genus Meganostoma 288
147. Neuration of genus Colias 289
148. Neuration of genus Terias 295
149. Neuration of genus Parnassius 305
An Astronomer's Conception of an Entomologist 317
150. Head and antenna of genus Pyrrhopyge 319
151. Neuration of genus Pyrrhopyge 319
152. Neuration of genus Eudamus 321
153. Antenna and neuration of genus Plestia 322
154. Neuration of genus Epargyreus 323
155. Neuration of genus Thorybes 324
156. Neuration of genus Achalarus 326
157. Antenna and neuration of genus Hesperia 327
158. Neuration of genus Systasea 329
159. Neuration of genus Pholisora 330
160. Neuration of genus Thanaos 332
161. Neuration of genus Amblyscirtes 340
162. Neuration of genus Pamphila 342
163. Neuration of genus Oarisma 343
164. Neuration of genus Ancyloxypha 345
165. Neuration of genus Copæodes 346
166. Neuration of genus Erynnis 347
167. Neuration of genus Thymelicus 351
168. Neuration of genus Atalopedes 352
169. Neuration of genus Polites 353
170. Neuration of genus Hylephila 354
171. Neuration of genus Prenes 355
172. Neuration of genus Calpodes 355
173. Neuration of genus Lerodea 356
174. Neuration of genus Limochores 357
175. Neuration of genus Euphyes 360
176. Neuration of genus Oligoria 361
177. Neuration of genus Poanes 362
178. Neuration of genus Phycanassa 362
179. Neuration of genus Atrytone 364
180. Neuration of genus Lerema 366
181. Megathymus yuccæ, ♀ 367
182. Larva of Megathymus yuccæ 368
183. Chrysalis of Megathymus yuccæ 368
The Popular Conception of an Entomologist 369
LIST OF COLORED PLATES
Produced by the color-photographic process of the Chicago Colortype
Company, 1205 Roscoe Street, Chicago, Ill.
FACING
PAGE
I. Spring Butterflies _Frontispiece_
II. Caterpillars of Papilionidæ and Hesperiidæ 6
III. Caterpillars of Nymphalidæ 18
IV. Chrysalids in Color and in Outline--Nymphalidæ 30
V. Chrysalids in Color and in Outline--Nymphalidæ,
Lycænidæ, Pierinæ 44
VI. Chrysalids in Color and in Outline--Papiloninæ
and Hesperiidæ 58
VII. Anosia and Basilarchia 80
VIII. Ithomiinæ, Heliconius, Dione, Colænis, and Euptoieta 88
IX. Argynnis 100
X. Argynnis 104
XI. Argynnis 108
XII. Argynnis 112
XIII. Argynnis 116
XIV. Argynnis 122
XV. Brenthis 130
XVI. Melitæa 138
XVII. Melitæa, Phyciodes, Eresia 152
XVIII. Argynnis, Brenthis, Melitæa, Phyciodes, Eresia,
Synchloë, Debis, Geirocheilus 156
XIX. Grapta, Vanessa 164
XX. Grapta, Vanessa, Junonia, Anartia, Pyrameis 168
XXI. Timetes, Hypolimnas, Eunica, Callicore 178
XXII. Basilarchia, Adelpha 184
XXIII. Chlorippe 190
XXIV. Pyrrhanæa, Ageronia, Synchloë, Cystineura, Hypanartia,
Victorina 196
XXV. Satyrodes, Coenonympha, Neonympha, Neominois, Erebia 204
XXVI. Satyrus 214
XXVII. OEneis 220
XXVIII. Libythea, Lemonias, Calephelis, Eumæus, Chrysophanus,
Feniseca 228
XXIX. Chrysophanus, Thecla 236
XXX. Thecla, Lycæna 246
XXXI. Lycæna 256
XXXII. Lycæna, Thecla, Nathalis, Euchloë 266
XXXIII. Catopsilia, Pyrameis 272
XXXIV. Euchloë, Neophasia, Pieris, Kricogonia 280
XXXV. Tachyris, Pieris, Colias 288
XXXVI. Meganostoma, Colias 294
XXXVII. Terias, Dismorphia 298
XXXVIII. Papilio 302
XXXIX. Parnassius 306
XL. Papilio 310
XLI. Papilio 314
XLII. Papilio 316
XLIII. Papilio, Colias, Pyrameis, Epargyreus 318
XLIV. Papilio 323
XLV. Papilio, Pholisora, Eudamus, Achalarus, Pyrrhopyge,
Plestia, Calpodes, Thanao 330
XLVI. Hesperiidæ 338
XLVII. Hesperiidæ 350
XLVIII. Hesperiidæ and Colias eurytheme 360
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I
THE LIFE-HISTORY AND ANATOMY OF BUTTERFLIES
"The study of butterflies,--creatures selected as the types of
airiness and frivolity,--instead of being despised, will some day
be valued as one of the most important branches of biological
science."--BATES, _Naturalist on the Amazons_.
In studying any subject, it is always well, if possible, to commence at
the beginning; and in studying the life of animals, or of a group of
animals, we should endeavor to obtain a clear idea at the outset of the
manner in which they are developed. It is a familiar saying that "all
life is from an egg." This statement is scientifically true in wide
fields which come under the eye of the naturalist, and butterflies are
no exception to the rule.
THE EGGS OF BUTTERFLIES
[Illustration FIG. 1.--Egg of _Basilarchia disippus_, magnified 30
diameters (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 2.--Egg of _Basilarchia disippus_, natural size, at
the end of under surface of leaf (Riley).]
The eggs of butterflies consist of a membranous shell containing a fluid
mass composed of the germ of the future caterpillar and the liquid food
which is necessary for its maintenance and development until it escapes
from the shell. The forms of these eggs are various. Some are spherical,
others hemispherical, conical, and cylindrical. Some are barrel-shaped;
others have the shape of a cheese, and still others have the form of a
turban. Many of them are angled, some depressed at the ends. Their
surface is variously ornamented. Sometimes they are ribbed, the ribs
running from the center outwardly and downwardly along the sides like
the meridian lines upon a globe. Between these ribs there is frequently
found a fine network of raised lines variously arranged. Sometimes the
surface is covered with minute depressions, sometimes with a series of
minute elevations variously disposed. As there is great variety in the
form of the eggs, so also there is great variety in their color. Brown,
blue, green, red, and yellow eggs occur. Greenish or greenish-white are
common tints. The eggs are often ornamented with dots and lines of
darker color. Species which are related to one another show their
affinity even in the form of their eggs. At the upper end of the eggs of
insects there are one or more curious structures, known as micropyles
(little doors), through which the spermatozoa of the male find ingress
and they are fertilized. These can only be seen under a good microscope.
[Illustration FIG. 3.--Egg of _Papilio turnus_, greatly magnified.]
[Illustration FIG. 4.--Egg of _Anosia plexippus_, magnified 30
diameters (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 5.--Egg of _Anosia plexippus_, natural size, on
under side of leaf (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 6.--Egg of _Anthocharis genutia_, magnified 20
diameters.]
[Illustration FIG. 7.--Turban-shaped egg of _Lycæna pseudargiolus_,
greatly magnified.]
[Illustration FIG. 8.--Egg of _Melitæa phaëton_, greatly magnified.]
The eggs are laid upon the food-plant upon which the caterpillar, after
it is hatched, is destined to live, and the female reveals wonderful
instinct in selecting plants which are appropriate to the development of
the larva. As a rule, the larvæ are restricted in the range of their
food-plants to certain genera, or families of plants.
[Illustration FIG. 9.--Upper end of egg of _Pieris oleracea_, greatly
magnified, showing the micropyle.]
[Illustration FIG. 10.--Egg of _Grapta comma_, laid in string-like
clusters on the under side of leaf. (Magnified.)]
The eggs are deposited sometimes singly, sometimes in small clusters,
sometimes in a mass. Fertile eggs, a few days after they have been
deposited, frequently undergo a change of color, and it is often
possible with a magnifying-glass to see through the thin shell the form
of the minute caterpillar which is being developed within the egg.
Unfruitful eggs generally shrivel and dry up after the lapse of a short
time.
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. Many species have eggs which appear to
be provided with a lid, a portion of the shell being separated from the
remainder by a thin section, which, when the caterpillar has reached the
full limit allowed by the egg, breaks under the pressure of the
enlarging embryo within, one portion of the egg flying off, the
remainder adhering to the leaf or twig upon which it has been deposited.
[Illustration FIG. 11.--Eggs of _Vanessa antiopa_, laid in a mass on a
twig.]
CATERPILLARS
_Structure, Form, Color, etc._--The second stage in which the insects we
are studying exist is known as the larval stage. The insect is known as
a larva, or a caterpillar. In general caterpillars have long, worm-like
bodies. Frequently they are thickest about the middle, tapering before
and behind, flattened on the under side. While the cylindrical shape is
most common, there are some families in which the larvæ are short, oval,
or slug-shaped, sometimes curiously modified by ridges and prominences.
The body of the larvæ of lepidoptera consists normally of thirteen
rings, or segments, the first constituting the head.
[Illustration FIG. 12.--Caterpillar of _Papilio philenor_ (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 13.--Head of caterpillar of _Papilio asterias_,
front view, enlarged.]
[Illustration FIG. 14.--Head of caterpillar of _Anosia plexippus_,
lower side, magnified 10 diameters: _lb_, labrum, or upper lip; _md_,
mandibles; _mx_, maxilla, with two palpi; _lm_, labium, or lower lip,
with one pair of palpi; _s_, spinneret; _a_, antenna; _o_, ocelli.
(After Burgess.)]
The head is always conspicuous, composed of horny or chitinous material,
but varying exceedingly in form and size. It is very rarely small and
retracted. It is generally large, hemispherical, conical, or bilobed. In
some families it is ornamented by horn-like projections. On the lower
side are the mouth-parts, consisting of the upper lip, the mandibles,
the antennæ, or feelers, the under lip, the maxillæ, and two sets of
palpi, known as the maxillary and the labial palpi. In many genera the
labium, or under lip, is provided with a short, horny projection known
as the spinneret, through which the silk secreted by the caterpillar is
passed. On either side, just above the mandibles, are located the eyes,
or ocelli, which in the caterpillar are simple, round, shining
prominences, generally only to be clearly distinguished by the aid of a
magnifying-glass. These ocelli are frequently arranged in series on each
side. The palpi are organs of touch connected with the maxillæ and the
labium, or under lip, and are used in the process of feeding, and also
when the caterpillar is crawling about from place to place. The
larva appears to guide itself in great part by means of the palpi.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE II |
| |
| Reproduced, with the kind permission of Dr. S.H. Scudder, |
| from "The Butterflies of New England," vol. iii, Plate 76. |
| |
| |
| |
| CATERPILLARS OF PAPILIONIDÆ AND HESPERIIDÆ |
| |
| 1. _Colias eurytheme._ |
| 2. _Callidryas eubule._ |
| 3. _Terias lisa._ |
| 4. _Callidryas eubule._ |
| 5. _Euchloë genutia._ |
| 6. _Terias nicippe._ |
| 7. _Pieris protodice._ |
| 8. _Pieris napi_, var. _oleracea_. |
| 9. _Pieris napi_, var. _oleracea_. |
| 10. _Colias philodice._ |
| 11. _Pieris rapæ._ |
| 12. _Pieris rapæ._ |
| 13. _Papilio philenor._ |
| 14. _Papilio ajax._ |
| 15. _Papilio turnus._ Just before pupation. |
| 16. _Papilio cresphontes._ |
| 17. _Papilio asterias._ In second stage. |
| 18. _Papilio troilus._ |
| 19. _Papilio troilus._ In third stage; plain. |
| 20. _Papilio philenor._ |
| 21. _Papilio philenor._ In third stage; dorsal view. |
| 22. _Papilio troilus._ In third stage; dorsal view. |
| 23. _Achalarus lycidas._ Dorsal view. |
| 24. _Papilio asterias._ In fourth stage; dorsal view. |
| 25. _Thorybes pylades._ |
| 26. _Papilio turnus._ Dorsal view. |
| 27. _Papilio asterias._ |
| 28. _Papilio turnus._ |
| 29. _Thorybes pylades._ |
| 30. _Epargyreus tityrus._ |
| 31. _Epargyreus tityrus._ |
| 32. _Thorybes bathyllus._ |
| 33. _Epargyreus tityrus._ |
| 34. _Eudamus proteus._ |
| 35. _Epargyreus tityrus._ In third stage. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE II.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
[Illustration FIG. 15.--Head of caterpillar of _Anosia plexippus_, side
view, showing ocelli.]
[Illustration FIG 16.--Caterpillar of _Anosia plexippus_, milkweed
butterfly (Riley).]
The body of the caterpillar is covered by a thin skin, which often lies
in wrinkled folds, admitting of great freedom of motion. The body is
composed, as we have seen, of rings, or segments, the first three of
which, back of the head, correspond to the thorax of the perfect insect,
and the last nine to the abdomen of the butterfly. On each ring, with
the exception of the second, the third, and the last, there is found on
either side a small oval opening known as a spiracle, through which the
creature breathes. As a rule, the spiracles of the first and eleventh
rings are larger in size than the others.
[Illustration FIG. 17.--Fore leg of caterpillar of _Vanessa antiopa_,
enlarged.]
[Illustration FIG. 18.--Anterior segments of caterpillar of milkweed
butterfly, showing thoracic or true legs (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 19.--Proleg of caterpillar of _Vanessa antiopa_,
enlarged.]
Every caterpillar has on each of the first three segments a pair of
legs, which are organs composed of three somewhat horny parts covered
and bound together with skin, and armed at their extremities by a sharp
claw (Fig. 17). These three pairs of feet in the caterpillar are always
known as the fore legs, and correspond to the six which are found in the
butterfly or the moth. In addition, in most cases, we find four pairs of
prolegs on the under side of the segments from the sixth to the ninth,
and another pair on the last segment, which latter pair are called the
anal prolegs. These organs, which are necessary to the life of the
caterpillar, do not reappear in the perfect insect, but are lost when
the transformation from the caterpillar to the chrysalis takes place.
There are various modifications of this scheme of foot-like appendages,
only the larger and more highly developed forms of lepidoptera having as
many pairs of prolegs as have been enumerated.
[Illustration FIG. 20.--Caterpillar of _Basilarchia disippus_, the
viceroy, natural size (Riley).]
The bodies of caterpillars are variously ornamented: many of them are
quite smooth; many are provided with horny projections, spines, and
eminences. The coloration of caterpillars is as remarkable in the
variety which it displays as is the ornamentation by means of the
prominences of which we have just spoken. As caterpillars, for the most
part, feed upon growing vegetation, multitudes of them are green in
color, being thus adapted to their surroundings and securing a measure
of protection. Many are brown, and exactly mimic the color of the twigs
and branches upon which they rest when not engaged in feeding. Not a few
are very gaily colored, but in almost every case this gay coloring is
found to bear some relation to the color of the objects upon which they
rest.
Caterpillars vary in their social habits. Some species are gregarious,
and are found in colonies. These frequently build for themselves
defenses, weaving webs of silk among the branches, in which they are in
part protected from their enemies and also from the inclemencies of the
weather. Most caterpillars are, however, solitary, and no community life
is maintained by the vast majority of species. Many species have the
habit of drawing together the edges of a leaf, in which way they form a
covering for themselves. The caterpillars of some butterflies are
wood-boring, and construct tunnels in the pith, or in the soft layers of
growing plants. In these cases, being protected and concealed from view,
the caterpillars are generally white in their coloration, resembling in
this respect the larvæ of wood-boring beetles. A most curious phenomenon
has within comparatively recent years been discovered in connection
with the larval stage of certain small butterflies belonging to the
family _Lycoenidoe_. The caterpillars are carnivorous, or rather
aphidivorous; they live upon aphids, or plant-lice, and scale-insects,
and cover themselves with the white exudations or mealy secretions of
the latter. This trait is characteristic of only one of our North
American species, the Harvester (_Feniseca tarquinius_).
[Illustration FIG. 21.--Early stages of the goatweed butterfly: _a_,
caterpillar; _b_, chrysalis; _c_, leaf drawn together at edges to form a
nest. (Natural size.) (Riley.)]
In addition to being protected from enemies by having colors which
enable them to elude observation, as has been already stated, some
caterpillars are provided with other means of defense. The caterpillars
of the swallowtail butterflies are provided with a bifurcate or forked
organ, generally yellow in color, which is protruded from an opening in
the skin back of the head, and which emits a powerful odor (Fig. 22).
This protrusive organ evidently exists only for purposes of defense, and
the secretion of the odor is analogous to the secretion of evil odors by
some of the vertebrate animals, as the skunk. The majority of
caterpillars, when attacked by insect or other enemies, defend
themselves by quickly hurling the anterior part of the body from side to
side.
[Illustration FIG. 22.--Head of caterpillar of _Papilio troilus_, with
scent-organs, or _osmateria_, protruded.]
_Moults._--Caterpillars in the process of growth and development from
time to time shed their skins. This process is called _moulting_.
Moulting takes place, as a rule, at regular intervals, though there are
exceptions to this rule. The young larva, having emerged from the egg,
grows for a number of days, until the epidermis, or true skin, has
become too small. It then ceases feeding, attaches itself firmly to some
point, and remains quiet for a time. During this period certain changes
are taking place, and then the skin splits along the middle line from
the head to the extremity of the last segment, and the caterpillar
crawls forth from the skin, which is left behind it, attached to the
leaf or branch to which it was fastened. The skin of the head sometimes
remains attached to the head of the caterpillar for a time after it has
moulted, and then falls off to the ground. Ordinarily not more than
five, and frequently only four, moults take place between hatching from
the egg and the change into the chrysalis. In cases where caterpillars
hibernate, or pass the winter in inaction, a long interval necessarily
elapses between moults. 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 Food of the Caterpillar._--The vast majority of the caterpillars of
butterflies subsist upon vegetable food, the only exceptions being the
singular one already noted in which the larvæ feed upon scale-insects.
Some of the _Hesperiidæ_, a group in which the relationship between
butterflies and moths is shown, have larvæ which burrow in the roots and
stems of vegetation.
_Duration of the Larval State._--The duration of the larval state varies
greatly. In temperate climates the majority of species exist in the
caterpillar state for from two to three months, and where hibernation
takes place, for ten months. Many caterpillars which hibernate do so
immediately after emerging from the egg and before having made the first
moult. The great majority, however, hibernate after having passed one or
more moults. With the approach of spring they renew their feeding upon
the first reappearance of the foliage of their proper food-plant, or are
transformed into chrysalids and presently emerge as perfect insects. A
few species live gregariously during the period of hibernation,
constructing for themselves a shelter of leaves woven together with
strands of silk.
_Transformation._--The larval or caterpillar stage having been
completed, and full development having been attained, the caterpillar is
transformed into a pupa, or chrysalis. Of this, the third stage in the
life of the insect, we now shall speak at length.
THE PUPA, OR CHRYSALIS
The caterpillars of many butterflies attach themselves by a button of
silk to the under surface of a branch or stone, or other projecting
surface, and are transformed into chrysalids, which are naked, and which
hang perpendicularly from the surface to which they are attached. Other
caterpillars attach themselves to surfaces by means of a button of silk
which holds the anal extremity of the chrysalis, and have, in addition,
a girdle of silk which passes around the middle of the chrysalis,
holding it in place very much as a papoose is held on the back of an
Indian squaw by a strap passed over her shoulders.
[Illustration FIG. 23.--Caterpillar of _Anosia plexippus_, undergoing
change into chrysalis: _a_, caterpillar just before rending of the skin;
_b_, chrysalis just before the cremaster, or hook, at its end is
withdrawn; _c_, chrysalis holding itself in place by the folds of the
shed skin caught between the edges of the abdominal segments, while with
the cremaster, armed with microscopic hooks, it searches for the button
of silk from which it is to hang (Riley). (Compare Fig. 24, showing
final form of the chrysalis.)]
_The Form of Chrysalids._--The forms assumed by the insect in this stage
of its being vary very greatly, though there is a general resemblance
among the different families and subfamilies, so that it is easy for
one who has studied the matter to tell approximately to what family the
form belongs, even when it is not specifically known. Chrysalids are in
most cases obscure in coloring, though a few are quite brilliant, and,
as in the case of the common milkweed butterfly (_Anosia plexippus_),
ornamented with golden-hued spots. The chrysalids of the _Nymphalidæ_,
one of the largest groups of butterflies, are all suspended. The
chrysalids of the _Papilionidæ_, or swallowtail butterflies, are held in
place by girdles, and generally are bifurcate or cleft at the upper end
(Fig. 25), and are greenish or wood-brown in color.
[Illustration FIG. 24.--Chrysalis of _Anosia plexippus_, final form
(Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 25.--Chrysalis of _Papilio philenor_: _a_, front
view; _b_, side view, showing manner in which it is held in place by the
girdle of silk (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 26.--_Pieris protodice: a_, caterpillar; _b_,
chrysalis (Riley).]
A study of the structure of all chrysalids shows that within them there
is contained the immature butterfly. The segments of the body are
ensheathed in the corresponding segments of the chrysalis, and soldered
over these segments are ensheathing plates of chitinous matter under
which are the wings of the butterfly, as well as all the other organs
necessary to its existence in the airy realm upon which it enters after
emergence from the chrysalis. The practised eye of the observer is soon
able to distinguish the location of the various parts of the butterfly
in the chrysalis, and when the time for escape draws near, it is in
many cases possible to discern through the thin, yet tough and hard,
outer walls of the chrysalis the spots and colors on the wings of the
insect.
[Illustration FIG. 27.--Chrysalis of _Pieris oleracea_ (Riley.)]
_Duration of Pupal Life._--Many butterflies remain in the chrysalis
stage only for a few weeks; others hibernate in this state, and in
temperate climates a great many butterflies pass the winter as
chrysalids. Where, as is sometimes the case, there are two or three
generations or broods of a species during the year, the life of one
brood is generally longer than that of the others, because this brood is
compelled to overwinter, or hibernate. There are a number of butterflies
known in temperate North America which have three broods: a spring
brood, emerging from chrysalids which have overwintered; an early summer
brood; and a fall brood. The chrysalids in the latter two cases
generally represent only a couple of weeks at most in the life of the
insect. In tropical and semi-tropical countries many species remain in
the chrysalis form during the dry season, and emerge at the beginning of
the rains, when vegetation is refreshed and new and tender growths occur
in the forests.
[Illustration FIG. 28.--Butterfly (_Papilio asterias_) just emerging
from chrysalis.]
_The Transformation from the Chrysalis to the Imago._--The perfectly
developed insect is known technically as the _imago_. When the time of
maturity in the chrysalis state has been reached, the coverings part in
such a way as to allow of the escape of the perfect insect, which, as it
comes forth, generally carries with it some suggestion of its
caterpillar state in the lengthened abdomen, which it with apparent
difficulty trails after it until it secures a hold upon some object from
which it may depend while a process of development (which lasts
generally a few hours) takes place preparatory to flight. The imago, as
it first emerges, is provided with small, flaccid wings, which, together
with all the organs of sense such as the antennæ, require for their
complete development the injection into them of the vital fluids which,
upon first emergence, are largely contained in the cavities of the
thorax and abdomen. Hanging pendant on a projecting twig, or clinging to
the side of a rock, the insect remains fanning its wings, while by the
strong process of circulation a rapid injection of the blood into the
wings and other organs takes place, accompanied by their expansion to
normal proportions, in which they gradually attain to more or less
rigidity. Hardly anything in the range of insect life is more
interesting than this rapid development of the butterfly after its first
emergence from the chrysalis. The body is robbed of its liquid contents
in a large degree; the abdomen is shortened up; the chitinous rings
which compose its external skeleton become set and hardened; the wings
are expanded, and then the moment arrives when, on airy pinions, the
creature that has lived a worm-like life for weeks and months, or which
has been apparently sleeping the sleep of death in its cerements, soars
aloft in the air, the companion of the sunlight and the breezes.
ANATOMY OF BUTTERFLIES
The body of the butterfly consists of three parts--the head, the thorax,
and the abdomen.
[Illustration FIG. 29.--Head of milkweed butterfly, stripped of scales
and greatly magnified (after Burgess): _v_, vertex; _f_, front; _cl_,
clypeus; _lb_, labrum, or upper lip; _md_, mandibles; _a_, antennæ;
_oc_, eyes; _tk_, spiral tongue, or proboscis.]
[Illustration FIG. 30.--Cross-section of the sucking-tube of the
milkweed butterfly, to show the way in which the halves unite to form a
central canal (_c_): _tr_, tracheæ, or air-tubes; _n_, nerves; _m_,
_m^3_, muscles of one side. (Magnified 125 diameters.) (Burgess.)]
[Illustration FIG. 31.--Longitudinal section of the head of the
milkweed butterfly: _cl_, clypeus; _mx_, left maxilla, the right being
removed; _mfl_, floor of mouth; _oe_, oesophagus, or gullet; _ov_,
mouth-valve; _sd_, salivary duct; _dm_ and _fm_, dorsal and frontal
muscles, which open the sac. (Magnified 20 diameters). (Burgess.)]
_The Head._--The head is globular, its breadth generally exceeding
its length. The top is called the _vertex_; the anterior portion,
corresponding in location to the human face, is called the _front_.
Upon the sides of the head are situated the large _compound eyes_,
between which are the _antennæ_, or "feelers," as they are sometimes
called. Above the mouth is a smooth horny plate, the _clypeus_. The
_labrum_, or upper lip, is quite small. On both sides of the mouth
are rudimentary _mandibles_, which are microscopic objects. The true
suctorial apparatus is formed by the _maxillæ_, which are produced in
the form of semi-cylindrical tubes, which, being brought together and
interlocking, form a complete tube, which is known as the
_proboscis_, and which, when not in use, is curled up spirally,
looking like a watch-spring. At the upper end of the proboscis, in
the head, is a bulb-like enlargement, in the walls of which are
inserted muscles which have their origin on the inner wall of the
head. When these muscles contract, the bulb-like cavity is enlarged,
a vacuum is produced, and the fluids in the cup of the flower flow
up the proboscis and into the bulb. The bulb is also surrounded by
muscles, which, when contracting, compress it. The external opening
of the tube has a flap, or valve, which, when the bulb is compressed,
closes and causes the fluid in it to flow backward into the gullet
and the stomach. The arrangement is mechanically not unlike that in a
bulb-syringe used by physicians. The process of feeding in the case
of the butterfly is a process of pumping honeyed water out of the
flowers into the stomach. The length of the proboscis varies; at its
base and on either side are placed what are known as the maxillary
palpi, which are very small. The lower lip, or _labium_, which is
also almost obsolete in the butterflies, has on either side two
organs known as the _labial palpi_, which consist of three joints. In
the butterflies the labial palpi are generally well developed, though
in some genera they are quite small. The antennæ of butterflies are
always provided at the extremity with a club-shaped enlargement, and
because of this clubbed form of the antennæ the entire group are
known as the _Rhopalocera_, the word being compounded from the Greek
word (ῥοπαλον), which means a _club_, and the word (_κερας_) which
means a _horn_.
[Illustration FIG. 32.--Interior view of head of milkweed butterfly:
_cl_, clypeus; _cor_, cornea of the eye; _oe_, oesophagus, or gullet;
_fm_, frontal muscle; _dm_, dorsal muscles; _lm_, lateral muscles; _pm_,
muscles moving the palpus (Burgess).]
[Illustration FIG. 33.--Labial palpus of _Colias_, magnified 10
diameters.]
It will be observed from what has been said that the head in these
creatures is to a large extent the seat of the organs of sense and
alimentation. What the function of the antennæ may be is somewhat
doubtful, the opinion of scientific men being divided. The latest
researches would indicate that these organs, which have been regarded as
the organs of smell and sometimes as the organs of hearing, have
probably a compound function, possibly enabling the creature to hear,
certainly to smell, but also, perhaps, being the seat of impressions
which are not strictly like any which we receive through our senses.
[Illustration FIG. 34.--_Colias philodice_: _a_, antenna; _p_,
extremity of palpus; _pl_, prothoracic leg; _ml_, mesothoracic leg;
_hl_, metathoracic or hind leg; _t_, proboscis.]
_Thorax._--The thorax is more or less oval in form, being somewhat
flattened upon its upper surface. It is composed of three parts, or
segments, closely united, which can only be distinguished from one
another by a careful dissection. The anterior segment is known as the
prothorax, the middle segment as the mesothorax, and the after segment
as the metathorax. The legs are attached in pairs to these three
subdivisions of the thorax, the anterior pair being therefore sometimes
spoken of as the prothoracic legs, the second pair as the mesothoracic
legs, and the latter pair as the metathoracic legs (Fig. 34). On either
side of the mesothorax are attached the anterior pair of wings, over
which, at their insertion into the body, are the _tegulæ_, or lappets;
on either side of the metathorax are the posterior pair of wings. It
will be seen from what has been said that the thorax bears the organs of
locomotion. The under side of the thorax is frequently spoken of by
writers, in describing butterflies, as the _pectus_, or breast.
_The Abdomen._--The abdomen is formed normally of nine segments, and in
most butterflies is shorter than the hind wings. On the last segment
there are various appendages, which are mainly sexual in their nature.
[Illustration FIG. 35.--Leg of butterfly: _c_, coxa; _tr_, trochanter;
_f_, femur; _t_, tibia; _tar_, tarsi.]
_The Legs._--Butterflies have six legs, arranged in three pairs, as we
have already seen. Each leg consists of five parts, the first of which,
nearest the body, is called the _coxa_, with which articulates a
ring-like piece known as the _trochanter_. To this is attached the
_femur_, and united with the femur, forming an angle with it, is the
_tibia_. To the tibia is attached the _tarsus_, or foot, the last
segment of which bears the claws, which are often very minute and blunt
in the butterflies, though in moths they are sometimes strongly hooked.
The tibiæ are often armed with spines. In some groups of butterflies the
anterior pair of legs is aborted, or dwarfed, either in one or both
sexes, a fact which is useful in determining the location of species in
their systematic order.
[Illustration FIG. 36.--Magnified representation of arrangement of the
scales on the wing of a butterfly.]
[Illustration FIG. 37.--Androconia from wings of male butterflies: _a_,
_Neonympha eurytus_; _b_, _Argynnis aphrodite_; _c_, _Pieris oleracea_.]
_The Wings._--The wings of butterflies consist of a framework of horny
tubes which are in reality double, the inner tube being filled with air,
the outer tube with blood, which circulates most freely during the time
that the insect is undergoing the process of development after emergence
from the chrysalis, as has been already described. After emergence the
circulation of the blood in the outer portion of the tubes is largely,
if not altogether, suspended. These horny tubes support a broad
membrane, which is clothed in most species upon both sides with
flattened scales which are attached to the membrane in such a way that
they overlap one another like the shingles on a roof. These scales are
very beautiful objects when examined under a microscope, and there is
considerable diversity in their form as well as in their colors. The
males of many species have peculiarly shaped scales arranged in tufts
and folds, which are called androconia, and are useful in
microscopically determining species (Fig. 37). The portion of the wings
which is nearest to the thorax at the point where they are attached to
the body is called the _base_; the middle third of the wing is known as
the _median_ or _discal area_, the outer third as the _limbal area_. The
anterior margin of the wings is called the _costal margin_; the outer
edge is known as the _external margin_, the inner edge as the _inner
margin_. The shape of the wings varies very much. The tip of the front
wing is called the apex, and this may be rounded, acute, falcate
(somewhat sickle-shaped), or square. The angle formed by the outer
margin of the front wing with the inner margin is commonly known as the
_outer angle_. The corresponding angle on the hind wing is known as the
_anal angle_, and the point which corresponds to the tip or apex of the
front wing is known as the _external angle_ (Fig. 38). A knowledge of
these terms is necessary in order to understand the technical
descriptions which are given by authors.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE III |
| |
| Reproduced, with the kind permission of Dr. S.H. Scudder, |
| from "The Butterflies of New England," vol. iii, Plate 74. |
| |
| CATERPILLARS OF NYMPHALIDÆ |
| |
| 1. _OEneis semidea._ Penultimate stage. |
| 2. _OEneis semidea._ |
| 3. _Neonympha eurytus._ |
| 4. _OEneis semidea._ |
| 5. _Anosia plexippus._ |
| 6. _Neonympha eurytus._ |
| 7. _OEneis semidea._ Just hatched. |
| 8. _Neonympha phocion._ |
| 9. _Satyrodes canthus._ |
| 10. _Neonympha eurytus._ |
| 11. _OEneis jutta._ Just hatched. |
| 12. _Neonympha phocion._ |
| 13. _Neonympha eurytus._ Penultimate |
| stage. |
| 14. _Neonympha eurytus._ Plain and enlarged. |
| 15. _OEneis semidea._ |
| 16. _Debis portlandia._ |
| 17. _Basilarchia astyanax._ |
| 18. _Satyrus alope._ |
| 19. _Basilarchia disippus._ |
| 20. _Chlorippe clyton._ |
| 21. _Basilarchia astyanax._ |
| 22. _Basilarchia disippus._ Plain outline |
| to show the attitude sometimes |
| assumed. |
| 23. _Grapta interrogationis._ |
| 24. _Basilarchia disippus._ |
| 25. _Basilarchia astyanax._ Plain. |
| 26. _Basilarchia arthemis._ |
| 27. _Grapta interrogationis._ |
| 28. _Vanessa antiopa._ |
| 29. _Junonia coenia._ |
| 30. _Junonia coenia._ |
| 31. _Grapta progne._ |
| 32. _Grapta faunus._ |
| 33. _Grapta satyrus._ |
| 34. _Pyrameis huntera._ |
| 35. _Pyrameis atalanta._ |
| 36. _Vanessa milberti._ |
| 37. _Pyrameis cardui._ |
| 38. _Grapta comma._ |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE III.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
If a wing is examined with the naked eye, or even with a lens, a clear
conception of the structure of the veins can rarely be formed. Therefore
it is generally necessary to remove from the wings the scales which
cover them, or else bleach them. The scales may be removed mechanically
by rubbing them off. They may be made transparent by the use of chemical
agents. In the case of specimens which are so valuable as to forbid a
resort to these methods, a clear knowledge of the structure of the veins
may be formed by simply moistening them with pure benzine or chloroform,
which enables the structure of the veins to be seen for a few moments.
The evaporation of these fluids is rapid, and they produce no ill effect
upon the color and texture of the wings. In the case of common species,
or in the case of such as are abundantly represented in the possession
of the collector, and the practical destruction of one or two of which
is a matter of no moment, it is easy to use the first method. The wing
should be placed between two sheets of fine writing-paper which have
been moistened by the breath at the points where the wing is laid, and
then by lightly rubbing the finger-nail or a piece of ivory, bone, or
other hard substance over the upper piece of paper, a good many of the
scales may be removed. This process may be repeated until almost all of
them have been taken off. This method is efficient in the case of many
of the small species when they are still fresh; in the case of the
larger species the scales may be removed by means of a camel's-hair
pencil such as is used by painters. The chemical method of bleaching
wings is simple and inexpensive. For this purpose the wing should be
dipped in alcohol and then placed in a vessel containing a bleaching
solution of some sort. The best agent is a solution of chloride of lime.
After the color has been removed from the wing by the action of the
chloride it should be washed in a weak solution of hydrochloric acid. It
may then be cleansed in pure water and mounted upon a piece of glass, as
microscopic slides are mounted, and thus preserved. When thus bleached
the wing is capable of being minutely studied, and all points of its
anatomy are brought clearly into view.
[Illustration FIG. 38.--Outline of wing, giving names of parts.]
[Illustration FIG. 39.--Arrangement of scales on wing of butterfly.]
The veins in both the fore and hind wings of butterflies may be divided
into simple and compound veins. In the fore wing the simple veins are
the costal, the radial, and the submedian; in the hind wing, the costal,
the subcostal, the upper and lower radial, the submedian, and the
internal are simple. The costal vein in the hind wing is, however,
generally provided near the base with a short ascending branch which is
known as the precostal vein. In addition to these simple veins there are
in the fore wing two branching veins, one immediately following the
costal, known as the subcostal, and the other preceding the submedian,
known as the median vein. The branches of these compound veins are known
as nervules. The median vein always has three nervules. The nervules of
the subcostal veins branch upwardly and outwardly toward the costal
margin and the apex of the fore wing. There are always from four to five
subcostal nervules. In the hind wing the subcostal is simple. The median
vein in the hind wing has three nervules as in the fore wing. Between
the subcostal and the median veins, toward the base in both wings, is
inclosed the cell, which may be wholly or partially open at its outer
extremity, or closed. The veinlets which close the cell at its outward
extremity are known as the discocellular veins, of which there are
normally three. From the point of union of these discocellular veins go
forth the radial veins known respectively as the upper and lower
radials, though the upper radial in many genera is emitted from the
lower margin of the subcostal.
An understanding of these terms is, however, more readily derived from a
study of the figure in which the names of these parts are indicated
(Fig. 40).
[Illustration FIG. 40.--Wing of _Anosia plexippus_, showing the names
of the veins and nervules: _C_, _C_, costal veins; _SC_, subcostal vein;
_SC_1_, etc., subcostal nervules; _UR_, upper radial; _LR_, lower
radial; _M_, median veins; _M_1_, _M_2_, _M_3_, median nervules; _SM_,
submedian veins; _I_, internal veins; _PC_, precostal nervule; _UDC_,
_MDC_, _LDC_, upper, middle, and lower discocellulars.]
Butterflies generally hold their wings erect when they are at rest, with
their two upper surfaces in proximity, the under surfaces alone
displaying their colors to the eye. Only in a few genera of the larger
butterflies, and these tropical species, with which this book does not
deal, is there an exception to this rule, save in the case of the
_Hesperiidæ_, or "skippers," in which very frequently, while the
anterior wings are folded together, the posterior wings lie in a
horizontal position.
_Internal Organs._--Thus far we have considered only the external organs
of the butterfly. The internal organs have been made the subject of
close study and research by many writers, and a volume might be
prepared upon this subject. It will, however, suffice for us to call the
attention of the student to the principal facts.
[Illustration FIG. 41.--Longitudinal section through the larva of
_Anosia plexippus_, ♂, to show the internal anatomy (the Roman numerals
indicate the thoracic, the Arabic the abdominal segments): _b_, brain;
_sog_, suboesophageal ganglion; _nc_, nervous cord; _oe_, oesophagus;
_st_, stomach; _i_, intestine; _c_, colon; _sv_, spinning-vessel of one
side; _s_, spinneret; _mv_, Malpighian vessel, of which only the
portions lying on the stomach are shown, and not the multitudinous
convolutions on the intestine; _t_, testis; _dv_, dorsal vessel; the
salivary glands are not shown. (Magnified 3 diameters.) (Burgess.)]
The muscular system finds its principal development in the thorax, which
bears the organs of locomotion. The digestive system consists of the
proboscis, which has already been described, the gullet, or oesophagus,
and the stomach, over which is a large, bladder-like vessel called the
food-reservoir, a sort of crop preceding the true stomach, which is a
cylindrical tube; the intestine is a slender tube, varying in shape in
different genera, divided into the small intestine, the colon, and the
rectum. Butterflies breathe through spiracles, little oval openings on
the sides of the segments of the body, branching from which inwardly are
the tracheæ, or bronchial tubes. The heart, which is located in the same
relative position as the spine in vertebrate animals, is a tubular
structure. The nervous system lies on the lower or ventral side of the
body, its position being exactly the reverse of that which is found in
the higher animals. It consists of nervous cords and ganglia, or
nerve-knots, in the different segments. Those in the head are more
largely developed than elsewhere, forming a rudimentary brain, the
larger portion of which consists of two enormous optic nerves. The
student who is desirous of informing himself more thoroughly and
accurately as to the internal anatomy of these insects may consult with
profit some of the treatises which are mentioned in the list of works
dealing with the subject which is given elsewhere in this book.
[Illustration FIG. 42.--Longitudinal section through the imago of
Anosia plexippus, ♀, to show the internal anatomy: _t_, tongue; _p_,
palpus; _a_, antenna; _pr_, prothorax; _mes_, mesothorax; _met_,
metathorax; _ps_, pharyngeal sac; _b_, brain; _sog_, suboesophageal
ganglion; 1-2, blended first and second ganglia of the larva; 3-4,
blended third and fourth ganglia of the larva; _l_, _l_, _l_, the three
legs; _ac_, aortal chamber; _dv_, dorsal vessel; _oe_, oesophagus; res,
reservoir for air or food; _st_, stomach; _mv_, Malpighian vessels; _i_,
intestine; _c_, colon; _r_, rectum; _cp_, copulatory pouch; _o_,
oviduct; _ag_, accessory glands; _sp_, spermatheca; _ov_, ovaries (not
fully developed); _nc_, nervous cord. (Magnified 3 diameters.)
(Burgess.)]
_Polymorphism and Dimorphism._--Species of butterflies often show great
differences in the different broods which appear. The brood which
emerges in the springtime from the chrysalis, which has passed the
winter under the snows, may differ very strikingly from the insect which
appears in the second or summer brood; and the insects of the third or
fall brood may differ again from either the spring or the summer brood.
The careful student notes these differences. Such species are called
polymorphic, that is, appearing under different forms. Some species
reveal a singular difference between the sexes, and there may be two
forms of the same sex in the same species. This is most common in the
case of the female butterfly, and where there are two forms of the
female or the male such a species is said to have dimorphic females or
males. This phenomenon is revealed in the case of the well-known Turnus
Butterfly; in the colder regions of the continent the females are yellow
banded with black, like the males, but in more southern portions of the
continent black females are quite common, and these dark females were
once thought, before the truth was known, to constitute a separate
species.
_Albinism and Melanism._--Albinos, white or light-colored forms, are
quite common among butterflies, principally among the females. On the
other hand, melanism, or a tendency to the production of dark or even
black forms, reveals itself. Melanism is rather more common in the case
of the male sex than in the female sex. The collector and student will
always endeavor, if possible, to preserve these curious _aberrations_,
as they are called. We do not yet entirely understand what are the
causes which are at work to produce these changes in the color, and all
such aberrant specimens have interest for the scientific man.
_Monstrosities._--Curious malformations, producing monstrosities,
sometimes occur among insects, as in other animals, and such malformed
specimens should likewise be preserved when found. One form of
malformation which is not altogether uncommon consists in an apparent
confusion of sexes in specimens, the wings of a male insect being
attached to the body of a female, or half of an insect being male and
half female.
_Mimicry._--One of the most singular and interesting facts in the animal
kingdom is what has been styled mimicry. Certain colors and forms are
possessed by animals which adapt them to their surroundings in such wise
that they are in a greater or less degree secured from observation and
attack. Or they possess forms and colors which cause them to approximate
in appearance other creatures, which for some reason are feared or
disliked by animals which might prey upon them, and in consequence of
this resemblance enjoy partial or entire immunity. 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. A good illustration of this fact is found in the case of the
Disippus Butterfly, which belongs to a group which is not specially
protected, but is often the prey of insect-eating creatures. This
butterfly has assumed almost the exact color and markings of the
milkweed butterfly, _Anosia plexippus_, which is distasteful to birds,
and hence enjoys peculiar freedom from the attacks of enemies. Because
this adaptation of one form to another evidently serves the purpose of
defense this phenomenon has been called "protective mimicry." The reader
who is curious to know more about the subject will do well to consult
the writings of Mr. Alfred Russel Wallace and Mr. Darwin, who have
written at length upon mimicry among butterflies. There is here a field
of most interesting inquiry for the student.
_The Distribution of Butterflies._--Butterflies are found everywhere
that plant life suited to the nourishment of the caterpillars is found.
There are some species which are arctic and are found in the brief
summer of the cold North and upon the lofty summits of high mountains
which have an arctic climate. Most of them are, however, children of the
sun, and chiefly abound in the temperate and tropical regions of the
earth. While the number of species which are found in the tropics vastly
exceeds the number of species found in the temperate zone, it is
apparently true that the number of specimens of certain species is far
more numerous in temperate regions than in the tropics. Very rarely in
tropical countries are great assemblages of butterflies to be seen, such
as may be found in the summer months in the United States, swarming
around damp places, or hovering over the fields of blooming clover or
weeds. In the whole vast region extending from the Rio Grande of Texas
to the arctic circle it is doubtful whether more than seven hundred
species of butterflies are found. On the continent of Europe there are
only about four hundred and fifty species. The number of species of
butterflies and the number of species of birds in the United States are
very nearly the same.
CHAPTER II
THE CAPTURE, PREPARATION, AND PRESERVATION OF SPECIMENS
"What hand would crush the silken-wingèd fly,
The youngest of inconstant April's minions,
Because it cannot climb the purest sky,
Where the swan sings, amid the sun's dominions?
Not thine."
SHELLEY.
"Do not mash your specimens!"--THE PROFESSOR.
COLLECTING APPARATUS
[Illustration FIG. 43.--Plan for folding
net-ring: _c_, halves of ring detached; _b_, upper joint of the halves;
_a_, ring set; _d_, cap of ferrule; _f_, cap of ferrule, showing screw
in place; _e_, screw (Riley).]
_Nets._--In the capture of insects of all orders, and especially of
butterflies and moths, one of the most important instruments is the net.
German naturalists make use of what are known as shears (_Scheren_),
which are made like gigantic scissors, having at the end two large oval
rings upon which wire gauze or fine netting is stretched. With this
implement, which looks like an old-fashioned candle-snuffer of colossal
size, they succeed in collecting specimens without doing much injury.
Shears are, however, not much in vogue among the naturalists of other
countries. The favorite instrument for the ordinary collector is the
net. Nets may be made in various ways and of various materials. There
are a multitude of devices which have been invented for enabling the net
to be folded up so as to occupy but little space when not in use. The
simplest form of the net, which can be made almost anywhere, is
constructed as follows: A rod--preferably of bamboo, or some other
light, stiff material--is used as the handle, not more than five feet in
length. Attached to this at its upper end, a loop or ring made of metal,
or some moderately stiff yet flexible material, should be tied
securely. Upon this there should be sewed a bag of fine netting,
preferably tarletan. The bag should be quite long, not less than
eighteen inches deep; the ring should be not less than a foot in
diameter. Such a net can be made at a cost of but a few cents, and will
be, in most cases, as efficient as any of the more expensive nets which
are more carefully constructed. A good, cheap ring for a net may be made
by using the brass ferrule of a fishing-rod. The ferrule should be at
least three quarters of an inch in diameter. Into this insert the ends
of a metal ring made by bending brass, aluminium, or iron wire into the
proper form. When the ends have been inserted into the ferrule, melted
solder or lead may be poured into it, and the ends of the wire forming
the ring will be thus firmly secured in the ferrule. The ferrule can
then be inserted into its mate placed at the end of a bamboo rod. I have
commonly obtained for this purpose the last joint or butt of a
fishing-rod as the handle of a net. Such a handle can often be purchased
for a small sum from a dealer in fishing-rods. It can be made very
cheaply. Any kind of a stick, if not too heavy, will do. It is sometimes
convenient to have it in your power to lengthen the handle of your net
so as to reach objects that are at some elevation above the head, and
for this purpose I have had nets made with handles capable of being
lengthened by jointed extensions. In collecting in tropical countries,
among tall shrubbery and undergrowth, nets thus made, capable of having
their handles greatly lengthened, have often proved serviceable. One of
the most successful collectors I have ever had in my employment made his
net by simply bending a piece of bamboo into the form of the frame of an
Indian snow-shoe, to which he attached a handle about a foot and a half
in length, and to this he affixed a bag of netting. He was, however, a
Japanese, and possessed a singular dexterity in the capture of specimens
with this simple apparatus to which I myself never attained. When
tarletan cannot be had, ordinary mosquito-netting will do as the
material for the bag. It is, however, too coarse in the mesh for many
delicate and minute species. Very fine netting for the manufacture of
the bags is made in Switzerland, and can be obtained from reputable
dealers.
[Illustration FIG. 44.--_a_, net; _b_, ferrule to receive handle; _c_,
wire hoop to be fastened in the upper end of the ferrule (Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 45.--_a_, ring of metal tied with wire at _a_; _b_,
ferrule; _c_, plug put in before pouring in solder (Riley).]
In order to protect and preserve the net, it is well to bind it with
some thin muslin at the point where it is joined to the ring. Nets are
sometimes made with a strip of muslin, about two inches wide, attached
to the entire circumference of the ring, and to this strip of muslin the
bag is sewed. For my part, I prefer gray or green as the color for a
net. White should be avoided, as experience shows that a white net will
often alarm an insect when a net of darker material will not cause it to
fly before the collector is ready to bring the net down over the spot
where it is settled.
_Collecting-Jars._--In killing insects various methods have been used.
In practice the most approved method is to employ a jar charged with
cyanide of potash or with carbonate of ammonia. For large moths and
butterflies cyanide of potash and carbonate of ammonia serve very well,
but it must be remembered that carbonate of ammonia bleaches insects
which are green in color. It is well, in my judgment, to use a drop or
two of chloroform in the jar charged with carbonate of ammonia, for the
collection of diurnal lepidoptera. By putting a few drops of chloroform
into the jar, the insect is anesthetized, and its struggles are made
quickly to cease. The principal objection to chloroform is the fact that
it induces rigidity of the thoracic muscles, which subsequently
sometimes interferes with handsome setting.
[Illustration FIG. 46.--Cyanide-jar prepared for use: _P_, perforated
cardboard; _Cy_, lumps of cyanide of potash.]
[Illustration FIG. 47.--Piece of paper punctured and slit for pasting
over the cyanide in the collecting-jar.]
In the preparation of the poisoning-jar it is well to use a jar which
has a ground-glass stopper, and the mouth of which is about three inches
in diameter. This will be large enough for most specimens. The one-pound
hydrate of chloral jars, provided with glass stoppers and sold by
Schering, make the neatest collecting-jars that are known to the writer.
I have found it well to have such jars partly covered with leather after
the fashion of a drinking-flask. An opening in the leather is left on
either side, permitting an inspection of the contents of the jar. The
leather protects from breakage. At the bottom of such a jar a few lumps
of cyanide of potash, about the size of a filbert, should be placed.
Over this may be laid a little cotton, to prevent the lumps from
rattling about loosely at the bottom of the jar. Over the cotton there
is pasted a sheet of strong white paper, perforated with a multitude of
holes. In securing the white paper over the cyanide, the writer has
resorted to a simple method which is explained in the annexed diagram. A
piece of paper is placed under the jar, and a circle the size of the
inside of the jar is traced upon it. Then a disk is cut out about three
quarters of an inch greater in diameter than the original circle (Fig.
47). The paper is punctured over the entire surface included within the
inner line, and then, with a scissors, little gashes are made from the
outer circumference inward, so as to permit of the folding up of the
edge of the disk. A little gum tragacanth is then applied to these
upturned edges; and it is inserted into the jar and pasted securely over
the cyanide by the upturned flaps. A jar thus charged will last for a
long time, if kept properly closed when not in use. Cyanide of potash
has a tendency to deliquesce, or melt down in the presence of moisture,
and in very humid climates or damp places, if the jar is not kept well
stoppered, the cyanide will quickly become semi-fluid, the paper will
become moist, and specimens placed in the jar will be injured or
completely ruined. It is well, however, to bear in mind the fact that
the fumes of hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid), which are active in
producing the death of the insect, will not be given off in sufficient
volume unless there is some small amount of moisture present in the jar;
and in a very dry climate the writer has found it sometimes necessary to
add a drop or two of water from time to time to the cyanide. The same
method which has been described for charging a jar with cyanide of
potash can be employed in charging it with carbonate of ammonia.
[Illustration FIG. 48.--Method of disabling a butterfly by pinching it
when in the net.]
_Field-Boxes._--In collecting butterflies it is often possible to kill,
or half kill, the specimens contained in the net by a smart pinch
administered to the insect by the thumb and the first finger, the
pressure being applied from without the net (Fig. 48). This mode of
procedure, however, unless the operator is careful, is apt to somewhat
damage the specimens. The writer prefers to hold the insect firmly
between the thumb and the first finger, and apply a drop or two of
chloroform from a vial which should be carried in the upper
left-hand vest-pocket. The application of the chloroform will cause the
insect to cease its struggles immediately, and it may then be placed in
the poisoning-jar, or it may be pinned into the field-box. The
field-box, which should be worn at the side, securely held in its place
by a strap going over the shoulder and by another strap around the
waist, may be provided with the poisoning apparatus or may be without
it. In the former case the box should be of tin, and should have
securely fastened in one corner some lumps of cyanide, tied in gauze.
The box should be very tight, so that when it is closed the fumes of the
cyanide may be retained. The bottom should be covered with cork, upon
which the specimens, as they are withdrawn from the poisoning-jar,
should be pinned. It is well to bear strictly in mind that it is a
mistake to continue to put one specimen after another into the
poisoning-jar until it is half filled or quite filled with specimens. In
walking about the field, if there are several insects in the jar at a
time, they are likely to become rubbed and their beauty partially
destroyed by being tossed about as the collector moves from place to
place; and a large insect placed in a jar in which there are one or two
smaller insects will in its death-struggles possibly injure the latter.
So, as fast as the insects are partially asphyxiated, or deprived of the
power of motion, they should be removed from the poisoning-jar to the
poisoning-box, where they are pinned in place and prevented from rubbing
one against the other. Some collectors prefer simply to stun the
insects, and then pin them into the field-box, where they are left, in
whole or in part, to recover their vitality, to be subsequently put to
death upon the return of the collector from the field. This mode of
procedure, while undoubtedly it yields in the hands of a skilful
operator the most beautiful specimens, appears to the writer to be
somewhat cruel, and he does not therefore approve of it.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV |
| |
| Reproduced, with the kind permission of Dr. S.H. Scudder, |
| from "The Butterflies of New England," vol. iii, Plate 83. |
| |
| |
| CHRYSALIDS IN COLOR AND IN OUTLINE--NYMPHALIDÆ |
| |
| 1. _Anosia plexippus._ Side view. |
| 2. _Anosia plexippus._ In outline. |
| 3. _Anosia plexippus._ Dorsal view. |
| 4. _OEneis semidea._ |
| 5. _OEneis semidea._ Dorsal view. |
| 6. _Debis portlandia._ |
| 7. _Satyrus nephele._ |
| 8. _Satyrus nephele._ Dorsal view. |
| 9. _Satyrodes canthus._ Side view. |
| 10. _Neonympha phocion._ Side view. |
| 11. _Neonympha phocion._ Side view. |
| 12. _Basilarchia astyanax._ Side view. |
| 13. _Basilarchia astyanax._ Side view. |
| 14. _Basilarchia arthemis._ Side view. |
| 15. _Chlorippe clyton._ Side view. |
| 16. _Chlorippe clyton._ Side view. |
| 17. _Chlorippe clyton._ Dorsal view. |
| 18. _Basilarchia disippus._ Ventral view. |
| 19. _Basilarchia disippus._ Side view. |
| 20. _Basilarchia disippus._ Side view. |
| 21. _Grapta interrogationis._ Dorsal view. |
| 22. _Grapta interrogationis._ Side view. |
| 23. _Basilarchia arthemis._ Dorsal view. |
| 24. _Grapta interrogationis._ Outline of |
| mesothoracic tubercle from the side. |
| 25. _Grapta interrogationis._ |
| 26. _Grapta interrogationis._ Outline of |
| head from in front. |
| 27. _Grapta comma._ Outline of head |
| from in front; enlarged. |
| 28. _Neonympha eurytus._ Side view. |
| 29. _Grapta comma._ Outline of mesothoracic |
| tubercle from the side. |
| 30. _Grapta comma._ The same from |
| another specimen. |
| 31. _Grapta faunus._ Outline of head |
| from in front. |
| 32. _Grapta progne._ Outline of head |
| from in front. |
| 33. _Grapta faunus._ Side view. |
| 34. _Grapta faunus._ Side view in outline. |
| 35. _Grapta faunus._ Ventral view in |
| outline. |
| 36. _Vanessa j-album._ Outline of mesothoracic |
| tubercle from the side. |
| 37. _Grapta progne._ Side view. |
| 38. _Grapta progne._ Side view. |
| 39. _Grapta comma._ Side view. |
| 40. _Grapta interrogationis._ Side view. |
| 41. _Grapta satyrus._ Side view. |
| 42. _Grapta satyrus._ Ventral view. |
| 43. Vanessa milberti. Side view. |
| 44. _Vanessa j-album._ Side view. |
| 45. _Vanessa j-album._ Ventral view. |
| 46. _Grapta comma._ Side view. |
| 47. _Grapta comma._ Side view. |
| 48. _Grapta comma._ Dorsal view. |
| 49. _Vanessa milberti._ Side view. |
| 50. _Vanessa milberti._ Dorsal view. |
| 51. _Vanessa antiopa._ Side view. |
| 52. _Pyrameis atalanta._ Side view. |
| 53. _Pyrameis atalanta._ Dorsal view. |
| 54. _Pyrameis huntera._ Side view. |
| 55. _Pyrameis atalanta._ Side view. |
| 56. _Junonia coenia._ Side view. |
| 57. _Junonia coenia._ Dorsal view. |
| 58. _Vanessa antiopa._ Side view. |
| 59. _Vanessa antiopa._ Dorsal view. |
| 60. _Pyrameis cardui._ Side view. |
| 61. _Pyrameis cardui._ Side view. |
| 62. _Pyrameis cardui._ Dorsal view. |
| 63. _Pyrameis huntera._ Dorsal view. |
| 64. _Pyrameis huntera._ Side view, with |
| nest woven before pupation. |
| 65. _Junonia coenia._ Side view. |
| 66. _Junonia coenia._ Side view. |
| 67. _Junonia coenia._ Side view. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE IV.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_The Use of the Net._--In the use of the net the old saying is true that
"practice makes perfect." The bag of the net should be sufficiently long
to allow of its being completely closed when hanging from the ring on
either side. It is possible to sweep into the net an insect which is
fluttering through the air, and then by a turn of the hand to close the
bag and to capture the specimen. When the insect has alighted upon the
ground it is best to clap the net over it and then to raise the net with
one hand. Very many species have the habit of flying upward. This is
particularly true of the skippers, a group of very vigorous and
swift-flying butterflies. The writer prefers, if possible, to clap the
net over the specimens and then to allow them to rise, and, by inserting
the wide-mouthed collecting-jar below, to capture them without touching
them at all with the fingers. So far as possible the fingers should not
be allowed to come in contact with specimens, whether in or out of the
net, though some persons acquire an extremely delicate yet firm touch
which enables them to handle the wings of frail species without removing
any of the scales. Nothing is more unsightly in a collection than
specimens that have been caught and rubbed by the fingers.
_Baits._--Moths are frequently taken by the method of collecting known
as "sugaring." But it may also be employed for butterflies. For this
purpose a mixture of beer and cheap brown sugar may be used. If the beer
be stale drippings, so much the better. In fact, it is well, if the
collector intends to remain in one locality for some time, to make a
mixture of beer and sugar some hours or a day in advance of its
application. In semi-tropical countries a mixture of beer and sugar is
hardly as good as a mixture of molasses and water into which a few
tablespoonfuls of Jamaica rum have been put. A mixture thus prepared
seems to attract more effectually than the first prescription. Having
provided a pail with a quart or two of the mixture, the collector
resorts to the point where he proposes to carry on his work. With an
ordinary whitewash brush the mixture is applied to the trunks of trees,
stumps, fence-rails, and other objects. It is well to apply the mixture
to a series of trees and posts located on the side of a bit of woodland,
or along a path through forests, if comparatively open and not too
dense. The writer has rarely had success in sugaring in the depths of
forests. His greatest success has always been on paths and at the edge
of woods. Many beetles and other insects come to the tempting sweets,
and separate jars for capturing these should be carried in the pocket.
The collector never should attempt to kill beetles in the same jar into
which he is putting butterflies. The hard, horny bodies and spiny legs
of beetles will make sad havoc with the delicate wings of butterflies.
Many other baits besides this may be employed to attract insects. Some
writers recommend a bait prepared by boiling dried apples and mashing
them into a pulp, adding a little rum to the mixture, and applying this
to the bark of trees. In tropical countries bananas, especially rotten
bananas, seem to have a charm for insects. The cane-trash at sugar-mills
is very attractive. If possible, it is well to obtain a quantity of this
trash and scatter it along forest paths. Some insects have very peculiar
appetites and are attracted by things loathsome. The ordure of
carnivorous animals seems to have a special charm for some of the most
magnificently colored and the rarest of tropical butterflies. A friend
of mine in Africa, who collected for me for a number of years, used to
keep civet-cats, the ordure of which was collected and placed at
appropriate points in the forest paths; and he was richly rewarded by
obtaining many insects which were not obtained in any other way. Putrid
fish have a charm for other species, and dead snakes, when rankly high,
will attract still others. It may be observed that after the trees have
been treated for a succession of days or nights with the sweetening
mixture spoken of above, they become very productive. 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." It is well,
however, to know always where your path leads, and not to lay it out in
the dusk, as the writer once did when staying at a well-known summer
resort in Virginia. The path which he had chosen as the scene of
operations was unfortunately laid, all unknown to himself, just in the
rear of the poultry-house of a man who sold chickens to the hotel; and
when he saw the dark lantern mysteriously moving about, he concluded
that some one with designs upon his hens was hidden in the woods, and
opened fire with a seven-shooter, thus coming very near to terminating
abruptly the career of an ardent entomologist.
_Beating._--There are many species which are apparently not attracted by
baits such as we have spoken of in the preceding paragraph. The
collector, passing through the grove, searches diligently with his eye
and captures what he can see, but does not fail also with the end of his
net-handle to tap the trunks of trees and to shake the bushes, and as
the insects fly out, to note the point where they settle, and then make
them his prey. It is well in this work, as in all collecting, to proceed
somewhat leisurely, and to keep perfectly cool. The caricature sometimes
found in newspapers of the ardent lepidopterist running like a
"quarter-back" across a ten-acre lot in quest of some flying insect does
not represent the truly skilful collector, whose movements are more or
less stealthy and cautious.
THE BREEDING OF SPECIMENS
By breeding it is possible to obtain specimens in the most perfect
condition. Bred specimens which have not had an opportunity to fly are
always preferred on account of their freshness of color and perfection
of form. A great many species which apparently are exceedingly rare may
often be obtained in considerable numbers by the process of breeding,
the caterpillar being more readily found than the perfect insect.
Although the process of breeding involves a good deal of labor and care,
it affords a most delightful field for observation, and the returns are
frequently of the very greatest value.
_How to Get the Eggs of Butterflies._--The process of breeding may begin
with the egg. The skilful eye of the student will detect the eggs of
butterflies upon the leaves upon which they have been deposited. 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. The exceedingly beautiful researches of Mr. W.H.
Edwards were largely promoted by his skill in inducing females to
oviposit upon their food-plants. He did this generally by confining the
female with the food-plant in a barrel or nail-keg, the bottom of which
had been knocked out, and over the top of which he tied mosquito-netting.
The plant was placed under the keg. The insects thus confined may be
fed with a mixture of honey and water placed upon the leaves.
In collecting caterpillars it is well to have on hand a number of small
boxes in which to place them, and also a botany-box in which to bring
from the field a supply of their appropriate food.
The process of breeding may begin with the caterpillar. The collector,
having discovered the caterpillar feeding upon the branch of a certain
plant, provides the creature with a constant supply of the fresh foliage
of the same plant, until it finally pupates.
[Illustration FIG. 49.--Cheap form of breeding-cage: _G_, lid covered
with mosquito-netting; _E_, pan of earth; _B_, bottle for food-plant.]
_Breeding-Cages._--Various devices for breeding caterpillars and rearing
moths and butterflies are known. One of the most important of these
devices is the breeding-cage, which is sometimes called a vivarium. The
simplest form of the vivarium is often the best. In breeding some
species the best method is simply to pot a plant of the species upon
which the larva is known to feed, and to place the potted plant in a box
over which some mosquito-netting is tied. The writer frequently employs
for this purpose cylinders of glass over the top of which perforated
cardboard is placed. This method, however, can be resorted to only with
the more minute forms and with plants that do not attain great height.
Another form of vivarium is represented in the adjoining woodcut (Fig.
50). The writer has successfully employed, for breeding insects upon a
large scale, ordinary store boxes provided with a lid made by fastening
together four pieces of wood, making a frame large enough to cover the
top of the box, and covering it with gauze. The food-plant is kept fresh
in bottles or jars which are set into the boxes. Be careful, however,
after you have put the branches upon which the caterpillars are feeding
into the jars, to stuff something into the neck of the jar so as to
prevent the caterpillar from accidentally getting into the water and
drowning himself--a mishap which otherwise might occur. When breeding is
undertaken on a still larger scale, it may be well to set apart for this
purpose a room, preferably in an outbuilding, all the openings leading
from which should be carefully closed so as to prevent the escape of the
caterpillars.
[Illustration FIG. 50.--Breeding-cage: _a_, base, battened at _g_ to
prevent warping; _b_, removable body of cage, inclosing zinc pan, _f_,
_f_, containing jar for plant, _d_, and filled with five inches of soil,
_e_; _c_, removable top, covered with wire gauze. The doors and sides
are of glass (Riley).]
_How to Find Caterpillars._--Many species of caterpillars are not hard
to discover; they are more or less conspicuous objects, and strike the
eye. Some species conceal themselves by weaving together the leaves of
the plant on which they feed, or by bending a single leaf into a curved
receptacle in which they lie hidden. Others conceal themselves during
the daytime about the roots of trees or under bark or stones, only
emerging in the night-time to feed upon the foliage. The collector will
carefully search for these. The presence of caterpillars is generally
indicated by the ravages which they have committed upon the foliage. By
carefully scanning a branch the collector will observe that the leaves
have been more or less devoured. Generally underneath the tree will be
found the frass, or ejectamenta, of the caterpillar. The presence of the
ejectamenta and the evidence of the ravages committed by the larvæ upon
the foliage will give the collector a clue to the whereabouts of the
caterpillar. The writer has found it generally advantageous to search
for caterpillars that feed upon trees along the wide, sandy margins of
brooks and rivers. The frass is easily discovered upon the sand, and by
casting the eye upward into the foliage it is often easy to detect the
insect. The pavements in towns and cities which are bordered by trees
may also very well be scanned for evidence of the presence of
caterpillars. A favorite collecting-ground of the writer is one of the
large cemeteries of the city in which he lives, in which there are
numerous trees and a great quantity of shrubbery. Wood-boring species,
as a rule, are more difficult to obtain and rear than those that feed
upon the foliage.
_Hibernating Caterpillars._--While some difficulty attends the
preservation of chrysalids in the case of those species which pupate in
the fall and pass the winter in the chrysalis state under the ground,
far more difficulty attends the preservation of species which hibernate
in the caterpillar state. As a rule, it is found best to expose the
boxes containing these species in an ice-house or other cold place,
keeping them there until there is available an abundant supply of the
tender shoots of the plant upon which they are in the habit of feeding.
They may then be brought forth from cold storage and placed in proximity
to the food-plant, upon which they will proceed to feed.
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIMENS
_Papering Specimens._--When time and opportunities do not suffice for
the proper preparation of butterflies for display in the permanent
collection, the collector may, in the case of the larger species,
conveniently place them in envelopes, with their wings folded (Fig. 51),
and they may then be stored in a box until such time as he is able to
relax the specimens and properly mount them. Thousands of insects are
thus annually collected. The small drug envelopes, or the larger
pay-roll envelopes, which may be bought in boxes by the thousand of any
stationer for a comparatively small sum, are preferable because of
their convenience. Many collectors, however, paper their specimens in
envelopes which they make of oblong bits of paper adapted to the size of
the insect. The process of making the envelope and of papering the
insect is accurately depicted in the accompanying cut (Fig. 52). The
writer finds it good in the case of small butterflies to place them in
boxes between layers of cheap plush or velvet. A small box, a few inches
long, may be provided, and at its bottom a layer of velvet is placed;
upon this a number of small butterflies are laid. Over them is placed a
layer of velvet, with its soft pile facing the same side of the velvet
at the bottom. On top of this another piece of velvet is laid, with its
pile upward, and other specimens are again deposited, and over this
another piece of velvet is laid, and so on. If the box is not filled
full at once, it is well to have enough pieces of velvet cut to fill it,
or else place cotton on top, so as to keep the layers of velvet from
moving or shaking about. A yard or two of plush or velvet will suffice
for the packing of a thousand specimens of small butterflies.
[Illustration FIG. 51.--Butterfly in envelope.]
[Illustration FIG. 52.--Method of folding paper for envelopes: first
fold on line _AB_; then on _AD_ and _CB_; then on _BF_ and _EA_.]
_Mounting Butterflies._--When the collector has time enough at his
disposal he should at once mount his specimens as they are intended to
be displayed in the collection. We shall now proceed to explain the
manner in which this is most advantageously accomplished. The insect
should first of all be pinned. The pin should be thrust perpendicularly
through the thorax, midway between the wings, and at a considerable
elevation upon the pin. It should then be placed upon the setting-board
or setting-block. Setting-boards or setting-blocks are pieces of wood
having a groove on the upper surface of sufficient depth to accommodate
the body of the insect and to permit the wings to be brought to the
level of the upper surface of the board (Fig. 53). They should also be
provided either with a cleft or a hole which will permit the pin to be
thrust down below the body of the insect for a considerable distance.
As a rule, the wings of all specimens should be mounted at a uniform
elevation of about seven eighths of an inch above the point of the pin.
This is known as the "continental method" of mounting, and is infinitely
preferable to the old-fashioned "English method," in which the insect
was pinned low down upon the pin, so that its wings touched the surface
of the box.
[Illustration FIG. 53.--Setting-board designed by the author. The wings
of the insect are held in place by strips of tracing-muslin, such as is
used by engineers. The grooves at the side serve to hold the board in
place in the drying-box. (See Fig. 59.)]
[Illustration FIG. 54.--Setting-block: _A_, holes to enable the pin to
reach to the cork; _C_, cork, filling groove on the bottom of the block;
_B_, slit to hold thread.]
[Illustration FIG. 55.--Setting-block with butterfly expanded upon it.]
Setting-blocks are most advantageously employed in setting small
species, especially the _Hesperiidæ_, the wings of which are refractory.
When the insect has been pinned upon the setting-board or setting-block,
the next step is to set the wings in the position which they are to
maintain when the specimen is thoroughly dry. This is accomplished by
means of what are known as "setting-needles" (Fig. 56). Setting-needles
may be easily made by simply sticking ordinary needles into wooden
matches from which the tips have been removed. In drawing the wings into
position, care should be taken to plant the setting-needle behind the
strong nervure on the costal margin of the wing; otherwise the wings are
liable to be torn and disfigured. The rule in setting lepidoptera is to
draw the anterior wing forward in such a manner that the posterior
margin of this wing is at right angles to the axis of the body, the axis
of the body being a line drawn through the head to the extremity of the
abdomen. The hind wing should then be moved forward, its anterior margin
lying under the opposing margin of the front wing. When the wings have
thus been adjusted into the position which they are to occupy, slips of
tracing-muslin or of paper should be drawn down over them and securely
pinned, the setting-needles being removed.
[Illustration FIG. 56.--Setting-needle.]
In pinning down the strips which are to hold the wings in place, be
careful to pin around the wing, but never, if possible, through it. When
the wings have been adjusted in the position in which they are to
remain, the antennæ, or feelers, should be attended to and drawn forward
on the same plane as the wings and secured in place. This may ordinarily
be done by setting pins in such a position as to hold them where they
are to stay. Then the body, if it has a tendency to sag down at the end
of the abdomen, should be raised. This may also be accomplished by means
of pins thrust beneath on either side. The figure on the next page shows
more clearly what is intended. When the insect has been set, the board
should be put aside in a place where it will not be molested or attacked
by pests, and the specimens upon it allowed to dry. A box with shelves
in it is often used for this purpose. This box should have a door at the
front covered with wire gauze, and the back should also be open, covered
with gauze, so as to allow a free circulation of air. A few balls of
naphthaline placed in it will tend to keep away mites and other pests.
The time during which the specimen should remain on the board until it
is dried varies with its size and the condition of the atmosphere. Most
butterflies and moths in dry weather will be sufficiently dried to
permit of their removal from the setting-boards in a week; but large,
stout-bodied moths may require as much as two weeks, or even more time,
before they are dry enough to be taken off the boards. The process of
drying may be hastened by placing the boards in an oven, but the
temperature of the oven must be quite low. If too much heat is applied,
great injury is sure to result. Only a careful and expert operator
should resort to the use of the oven, a temperature above 120°F. being
sure to work mischief.
[Illustration FIG. 57.--Setting-board with moth expanded upon it
(Riley).]
[Illustration FIG. 58.--Butterfly pinned on board, showing method of
holding up body and pinning down antennæ.]
[Illustration FIG. 59.--Drying-box: _a_, setting-board partly pulled
out; _b_, T-shaped strip working in groove on setting-board; _c_, front
door, sliding down by tongue, _d_, working in a groove at side in
front.]
_Relaxing Specimens._--When butterflies or moths have been put up in
papers or mounted on pins without having their wings expanded and set it
becomes necessary, before setting them, to relax them. This may be
accomplished in several ways. If the specimens have been pinned it is
best to place them on pieces of sheet-cork on a tray of sand which has
been thoroughly moistened and treated with a good dose of carbolic acid.
Over all a bell-glass is put. A tight tin box will serve the same
purpose, but a broad sheet of bibulous paper should always be put over
the box, under the lid, before closing it, and in such a way as to leave
the edges of the paper projecting around the edges of the lid. This is
done to absorb the moisture which might settle by condensation upon the
lid and drop upon the specimens. In a bell-glass the moisture generally
trickles down the sides. Earthenware crocks with closely fitting lids
are even better than tin boxes, but they must have paper put over them,
before closing, in the same way as is done when tin boxes are used. When
specimens have been preserved in papers or envelopes these should be
opened a little and laid upon damp, carbolized sand under a bell-glass
or in a closed receptacle of some kind. Papered specimens may also be
placed in their envelopes between clean towels, which have been
moistened in water to which a little carbolic acid has been added. The
towels should be wrung out quite dry before using them. The method of
placing between towels should never be used in the case of very small
and delicate species and those which are blue or green in color. Great
care must be exercised not to allow the insects to become soaked or
unduly wet. This ruins them. They should, however, be damp enough to
allow the wings and other organs to be freely moved. When the insects
have been relaxed they may be pinned and expanded on setting-boards like
freshly caught specimens. It is well in setting the wings of relaxed
specimens, after having thrust the pin through the body, to take a small
forceps and, seizing the wings just where they join the body, gently
move them so as to open them and make their movement easy before pinning
them upon the setting-board. The skilful manipulator in this way quickly
ascertains whether they have been sufficiently relaxed to admit of their
being readily set. If discovered to be too stiff and liable to break
they must be still further relaxed. Dried specimens which have been
relaxed and then mounted generally require only a short time to dry
again, and need rarely be kept more than twenty-four hours upon the
setting-boards.
[Illustration FIG. 60.--Drying-box (Riley).]
The process of setting insects upon setting-blocks is exactly the same
as when setting-boards are used, with the simple difference that,
instead of pinning strips of paper or tracing-muslin over the wings, the
wings are held in place by threads or very narrow tapes, which are wound
around the block. When the wings are not covered with a very deep and
velvety covering of scales the threads or tapes maybe used alone; but
when the wings are thus clothed it becomes necessary to put bits of
paper or cardboard over the wings before wrapping with the threads.
Unless this is done the marks of the threads will be left upon the
wings. Some little skill, which is easily acquired by practice, is
necessary in order to employ setting-blocks to advantage, but in the
case of small species and species which have refractory wings they are
much to be preferred to the boards.
_The Preparation and Preservation of Eggs._--The eggs of butterflies may
be preserved by simply putting them into tubes containing alcohol, or
they may be placed in vials containing dilute glycerine or a solution of
common salt. The vials should be kept tightly corked and should be
marked by a label written with a lead-pencil and placed within the
bottle, upon which the name of the species and the date of collection
should be noted, or a reference made to the collector's note-book.
Unless the eggs of insects are preserved in fluid they are apt in many
cases to dry up and become distorted, because, on account of their small
size, it is impossible to void them of their contents. The larvæ
escaping from eggs often void the shell very neatly, leaving, however, a
large orifice. Such remnants of shells may be preserved, as they often
are useful in showing some of the details of marking; but great
vigilance in securing them should be exercised, for almost all the larvæ
of butterflies have the curious habit of whetting their appetites for
future repasts by turning around and either wholly or partially
devouring the shell of the egg which they have quitted. Eggs are most
neatly mounted in the form of microscopic slides in glycerine jelly
contained in cells of appropriate depth and diameter. It is best, if
possible, to mount several specimens upon the same slide, showing the
side of the egg as well as the end. A cabinet filled with the eggs of
butterflies thus mounted is valuable and curious.
_The Preservation of Chrysalids._--Chrysalids may be deprived of their
vitality by simply immersing them in alcohol, or they may be killed by
means of chloroform, and they may then be fastened upon pins like the
imago, and arranged appropriately in the collection with the species.
Some chrysalids, however, lose their color when killed in this way, and
it is occasionally well to void them of their contents by making an
opening and carefully removing the parts that are contained within,
replacing with some material which will prevent the chrysalis from
shrinking and shriveling. This method of preserving need, however, be
resorted to only in exceptional cases. When a butterfly has escaped from
its chrysalis it frequently leaves the entire shell behind, with the
parts somewhat sundered, yet, nevertheless, furnishing a clear idea of
the structure of the chrysalis. If no other specimen of the chrysalis
can be obtained than these voided shells they should be preserved.
_The Preservation of Caterpillars._--The caterpillars of butterflies
when they first emerge from the egg, and before they make the first
moult, are, for the most part, extremely small, and are best preserved
as microscopic objects in cells filled with glycerine. After each
successive moult the larva increases rapidly in size. These various
stages in the development of the caterpillar should all be noted and
preserved, and it is customary to put up these collections in vials
filled with alcohol or a solution of formaline (which latter, by the by,
is preferable to alcohol), or to inflate them. The method of inflation
secures the best specimens.
In inflating larvæ the first step is carefully to remove the contents of
the larval skin. This may be done by making an incision with a stout pin
or a needle at the anal extremity, and then, between the folds of a soft
towel or cloth, pressing out the contents of the abdominal cavity. The
pressure should be first applied near the point where the pellicle has
been punctured, and should then be carried forward until the region of
the head is reached. Care must be exercised to apply only enough
pressure to expel the contents of the skin without disturbing the
tissues which lie nearest to the epidermis, in which the pigments are
located, and not to remove the hairs which are attached to the body.
Pressure sufficient to bruise the skin should never be applied. A little
practice soon imparts the required dexterity. The contents of the larval
skin having been removed, the next step is to inflate and dry the empty
skin. A compact statement of the method of performing this operation is
contained in Hornaday's "Taxidermy and Zoölogical Collecting," from
the pen of the writer, and I herewith reproduce it:
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE V |
| |
| Reproduced, with the kind permission of Dr. S.H. Scudder, |
| from "The Butterflies of New England," vol. iii, Plate 84. |
| |
| CHRYSALIDS IN COLOR AND IN OUTLINE--NYMPHALIDÆ, LYCÆNIDÆ, |
| PIERINÆ |
| |
| |
| 1. _Argynnis cybele._ Side view. |
| 2. _Argynnis cybele._ Dorsal view |
| 3. _Argynnis cybele._ Side view. |
| 4. _Argynnis idalia._ Side view. |
| 5. _Argynnis aphrodite._ Side view. |
| 6. _Argynnis atlantis._ Side view. |
| 7. _Melitæa phaëton._ Side view. |
| 8. _Euptoieta claudia._ Side view. |
| 9. _Euptoieta claudia._ Side view. |
| 10. _Brenthis bellona._ Side view. |
| 11. _Brenthis bellona._ Side view. |
| 12. _Brenthis myrina._ Side view. |
| 13. _Brenthis myrina._ Side view. |
| 14. _Brenthis myrina._ Dorsal view |
| 15. _Melitæa phaëton._ Side view. |
| 16. _Melitæa phaëton._ Dorsal view. |
| 17. _Melitæa barrisi._ Side view. |
| 18. _Melitæa barrisi._ Dorsal view. |
| 19. _Phyciodes nycteis._ Side view. |
| 20. _Phyciodes tharos._ Dorsal view. |
| 21. _Phyciodes tharos._ Side view. |
| 22. _Phyciodes tharos._ Side view. |
| 23. _Libythea bachmani._ Side view. |
| 24. _Libythea bachmani._ Side view. |
| 25. _Thecla calanus._ Side view. |
| 26. _Thecla irus._ Side view, enlarged. |
| 27. _Thecla calanus._ Side view. |
| 28. _Thecla liparops._ Side view. |
| 29. _Thecla edwardsi._ Side view. |
| 30. _Thecla damon._ Side view. |
| 31. _Thecla damon._ Side view, enlarged. |
| 32. _Thecla irus._ Dorsal view. |
| 33. _Thecla irus._ Side view. |
| 34. _Thecla irus._ Side view. |
| 35. _Thecla acadica._ Side view. |
| 36. _Lycæna pseudargiolus._ Side view. |
| 37. _Thecla titus._ Side view. |
| 38. _Thecla niphon._ Side view. |
| 39. _Thecla melinus._ Side view. Copied |
| from Abbot's drawing in the British |
| Museum. |
| 40. _Thecla niphon._ Side view. Copied |
| from Abbot's drawing in Dr. Boisduval's |
| library. |
| 41. _Lycæna scudderi._ Side view, enlarged. |
| 42. _Lycæna comyntas._ Side view. Copied |
| from Abbot's drawing in Dr. Boisduval's |
| library. |
| 43. _Lycæna pseudargiolus._ Side view, |
| enlarged. Copied from Abbot's |
| drawing in Dr. Boisduval's library. |
| 44. _Lycoena pseudargiolus._ Side view. |
| 45. _Feniseca tarquinius._ Side view. |
| 46. _Feniseca tarquinius._ Side view. |
| Copied from Abbot's drawing in |
| the British Museum. |
| 47. _Lycæna comyntas._ Side view, enlarged. |
| 48. _Lycæna comyntas._ Side view. |
| 49. _Chrysophanus bypophlæas._ Side view. |
| 50. _Chrysophanus thoë._ Side view. |
| 51. _Terias nicippe._ Side view. |
| 52. _Terias nicippe._ Dorsal view. |
| 53. _Colias eurytheme._ Side view. |
| 54. _Colias philodice._ Dorsal view. |
| 55. _Colias philodice._ Side view. |
| 56. _Terias lisa._ Side view. |
| 57. _Pieris napi_, var. _oleracea_. Side view. |
| 58. _Pieris rapæ._ Side view. |
| 59. _Euchloë genutia._ Side view. |
| 60. _Callidryas eubule._ Side view |
| 61. _Callidryas eubule._ Side view. |
| 62. _Callidryas eubule._ Dorsal view. |
| 63. _Pieris napi_, var. _oleracea_. Side view. |
| 64. _Pieris rapæ_, var. oleracea. Dorsal view. |
| 65. _Pieris rapæ._ Dorsal view. |
| 66. _Pieris protodice._ Dorsal view. |
| 67. _Pieris protodice._ Side view. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE V.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
[Illustration FIG. 61.--Apparatus for inflating larvæ: _B_,
foot-bellows; _K_, rubber tube; _C_, flask; _D_, anhydrous sulphuric
acid; _E_, overflow-flask; _F_, rubber tube from flask; _G_, standard
with cock to regulate flow of air; _H_, glass tube with larva upon it;
_I_, copper drying-plate; _J_, spirit-lamp.]
"The simplest method of inflating the skins of larvæ after the contents
have been withdrawn is to insert a straw or grass stem of appropriate
thickness into the opening through which the contents have been removed,
and then by the breath to inflate the specimen, while holding over the
chimney of an Argand lamp, the flame of which must be regulated so as
not to scorch or singe it. Care must be taken in the act of inflating
not to unduly distend the larval skin, thus producing a distortion, and
also to dry it thoroughly. Unless the latter precaution is observed a
subsequent shrinking and disfigurement will take place. The process of
inflating in the manner just described is somewhat laborious, and while
some of the finest specimens which the writer has ever seen were
prepared in this primitive manner, various expedients for lessening the
labor involved have been devised, some of which are to be highly
commended."
[Illustration FIG. 62.--Tip of inflating-tube, with armature for
holding larval skin.]
[Illustration FIG. 63.--Drying-oven: _A_, lamp; _B_, pin to hold door
open; _C_, door open; _D_, glass cover.]
"A comparatively inexpensive arrangement for inflating larvæ is a
modification of that described in the 'Entomologische Nachrichten'
(1879, vol. v, p. 7), devised by Mr. Fritz A. Wachtel (Fig. 61). It
consists of a foot-bellows such as is used by chemists in the
laboratory, or, better still, of a small cylinder such as is used for
holding gas in operating the oxyhydrogen lamp of a sciopticon. In the
latter case the compressed air should not have a pressure exceeding
twenty pounds to the square inch, and the cock regulating the flow from
the cylinder should be capable of very fine adjustment. By means of a
rubber tube the air is conveyed from the cylinder to a couple of flasks,
one of which contains concentrated sulphuric acid, and the other is
intended for the reception of any overflow of the hydrated sulphuric
acid which may occur. The object of passing the air through sulphuric
acid is to rob it, so far as possible, of its moisture. It is then
conveyed into a flask, which is heated upon a sand-bath, and thence by a
piece of flexible tubing to a tip mounted on a joint allowing vertical
and horizontal motion and secured by a standard to the working-table.
The flow of air through the tip is regulated by a cock. Upon the tip is
fastened a small rubber tube, into the free extremity of which is
inserted a fine-pointed glass tube. This is provided with an armature
consisting of two steel springs fastened upon opposite sides, and their
ends bent at right angles in such a way as to hold the larval skin
firmly to the extremity of the tube. The skin having been adjusted upon
the fine point of the tube, the bellows is put into operation, and the
skin is inflated. A drying apparatus is provided in several ways. A
copper plate mounted upon four legs, and heated by an alcohol-lamp
placed below, has been advocated by some. A better arrangement, used by
the writer, consists of a small oven heated by the flame of an
alcohol-lamp or by jets of natural gas, and provided with circular
openings of various sizes, into which the larval skin is introduced
(Fig. 63).
"A less commendable method of preserving larvæ is to place them in
alcohol. The larvæ should be tied up in sacks of light gauze netting,
and a label of tough paper, with the date and locality of capture, and
the name, if known, written with a lead-pencil, should be attached to
each such little sack. Do not use ink on labels to be immersed, but a
hard lead-pencil. Alcoholic specimens are liable to become shriveled and
discolored, and are not nearly as valuable as well-inflated and dried
skins."
[Illustration FIG. 64.--Drying-oven: _a_, sliding door; _b_, lid; _c_,
body of oven with glass sides; _d_, opening for inserting
inflating-tube; _e_, copper bottom; _f_, spirit-lamp; _g_, base
(Riley).]
"When the skins have been inflated they may be mounted readily by being
placed upon wires wrapped with green silk, or upon annealed aluminium
wire. The wires are bent and twisted together for a short distance and
then made to diverge. The diverging ends are pressed together, a little
shellac is placed upon their tips, and they are then inserted into the
opening at the anal extremity of the larval skin. Upon the release of
pressure they spread apart, and after the shellac has dried the skin is
firmly held by them. They may then be attached to pins by simply
twisting the free end of the wire about the pin, or they may be placed
upon artificial imitations of the leaves and twigs of their appropriate
food-plants."
THE PRESERVATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF COLLECTIONS
The secret of preserving collections of lepidoptera in beautiful
condition is to exclude light, moisture, and insect pests. Light
ultimately bleaches many species, moisture leads to mould and mildew,
and insect pests devour the specimens. The main thing is therefore to
have the receptacles in which the specimens are placed dark and as
nearly as possible hermetically sealed and kept in a dry place. In order
to accomplish this, various devices have been resorted to.
[Illustration FIG. 65.--Detail drawing of front of box, made to
resemble a book: _s_, _s_, sides, made of two pieces of wood glued
together across the grain; _t_, tongue; _g_, groove; _c_, cork; _p_,
paper covering the cork.]
[Illustration FIG. 66.--Detail drawing of front of box: _t_, top; _b_,
bottom; _e_, side; _f_, strip, nailed around inside as at _n_; _c_,
cork; _p_, paper lining.]
_Boxes._--Boxes for the preservation of specimens are made with a tongue
on the edges of the bottom fitting into a groove upon the lid, or they
may be made with inside pieces fastened around the inner edge of the
bottom and projecting so as to catch the lid. The accompanying outlines
show the method of joining different forms of boxes (Figs. 65-67). The
bottom of the box should be lined with some substance which will enable
the specimens to be pinned into it securely. For this purpose sheet-cork
about a quarter of an inch thick is to be preferred to all other
substances. Ground cork pressed into layers and covered with white
paper is manufactured for the purpose of lining boxes. Turf compressed
into sheets about half an inch thick and covered with paper is used by
many European collectors. Sheets of aloe-pith or of the wood of the
yucca, half an inch thick, are used, and the pith of corn-stalks (Indian
corn or maize) may also be employed, laid into the box and glued neatly
to the bottom. The corn-pith should be cut into pieces about half an
inch square and joined together neatly, covering it with thin white
paper after the surface has been made quite even and true. Cork is,
however, the best material, for, though more expensive than the other
things named, it has greater power to hold the pins, and unless these
are securely fixed and held in place great damage is sure to result. A
loose specimen in a box will work incalculable damage. Boxes should be
made of light, thoroughly seasoned wood, and should be very tight. They
are sometimes made so that specimens may be pinned both upon the top and
the bottom, but this is not to be commended. The depth of the box should
be sufficient to admit of the use of the longest insect-pin in use, and
a depth between top and bottom of two and a quarter inches is therefore
sufficient. Boxes are sometimes made with backs in imitation of books,
and a collection arranged in such boxes presents an attractive external
appearance. A very good box is made for the United States Department of
Agriculture and for the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh (Fig. 68). This
box is thirteen inches long, nine inches wide, and three inches thick
(external measurement). The depth between the bottom and the lid on the
inside is two and one eighth inches. The ends and sides are dovetailed;
the top and bottom are each made of two pieces of light stuff, about
one eighth of an inch thick, glued together in such a way that the
grain of the two pieces crosses at right angles, and all cracking and
warping are thus prevented. The lids are secured to the bottoms by brass
hooks fitting into eyelets. Such boxes provided with cork do not cost
more than fifty-five cents apiece when bought in quantities. Boxes may
be made of stout pasteboard about one eighth or three sixteenths of an
inch thick, with a rabbet-tongue on the inside. Such boxes are much used
in France and England, and when well and substantially made are most
excellent. They may be obtained for about thirty-five cents apiece lined
with compressed cork.
[Illustration FIG. 67.--Detail drawing of box, in which the tongue,
_z_, is made of strips of zinc let into a groove and fastened as at _n_;
_g_, groove to catch tongue; _s_, _s_, top and bottom; _c_, cork.]
[Illustration FIG. 68.--Insect-box for preservation of collections.]
_Cabinets and Drawers._--Large collections which are intended to be
frequently consulted are best preserved in cabinets fitted with
glass-covered drawers. A great deal of variety exists in the plans which
are adopted for the display of specimens in cabinets. Much depends upon
the taste and the financial ability of the collector. Large sums of
money may be expended upon cabinets, but the main thing is to secure the
specimens from dust, mould, and insect pests. The point to be observed
most carefully is so to arrange the drawers that they are, like the
boxes, practically air-tight. The writer employs as the standard size
for the drawers in his own collection and in the Carnegie Museum a
drawer which is twenty-two inches long, sixteen inches wide, and two
inches deep (inside measurement). The outside dimensions are: length,
twenty-three inches exclusive of face; breadth, seventeen inches;
height, two and three eighths inches. The covers are glazed with
double-strength glass. They are held upon the bottoms by a rabbet placed
inside of the bottom and nearly reaching the lower surface of the glass
on the cover when closed. The drawers are lined upon the bottom with
cork five sixteenths of an inch thick, and are papered on the bottom and
sides with good linen paper, which does not easily become discolored.
Each drawer is faced with cherry and has a knob. These drawers are
arranged in cabinets built in sections for convenience in handling. The
two lower sections each contain thirty drawers, the upper section nine.
The drawers are arranged in three perpendicular series and are made
interchangeable, so that any drawer will fit into any place in any one
of the cabinets. This is very necessary, as it admits of the easy
rearrangement of collections. On the sides of each drawer a pocket is
cut on the inner surface, which communicates through an opening in the
rabbet with the interior. The paper lining the inside is perforated over
this opening with a number of small holes. The pocket is kept filled
with naphthaline crystals, the fumes of which pass into the interior and
tend to keep away pests. The accompanying figure gives the details of
construction (Fig. 69). Such drawers can be made at a cost of about
$3.50 apiece, and the cost of a cabinet finished and supplied with them
is about $325, made of cherry, finished in imitation of mahogany.
[Illustration FIG. 69.--Detail drawing of drawer for cabinet: _e_, _e_,
ends; _b_, bottom; _c_, cork; _p_, _p_, paper strips in corners of lid
to exclude dust; _g_, _g_, glass of cover, held in place by top strips,
_s_, _s_; _m_, _m_, side pieces serving as rabbets on inside; _po_,
pocket in ends and sides, sawn out of the wood; _x_, opening through the
rabbet into this pocket; _y_, holes through the paper lining, _p^1_,
allowing fumes of naphthaline to enter interior of drawer; _f_, front;
_k_, knob; _o_, lunette cut in edge of the top piece to enable the lid
to be raised by inserting the fingers.]
Some persons prefer to have the bottoms as well as the tops of the
drawers in their cabinets made of glass. In such cases the specimens are
pinned upon narrow strips of wood covered with cork, securely fastened
across the inside of the drawers. This arrangement enables the under
side of specimens to be examined and compared with as much freedom as
the upper side, and without removing them from the drawers; but the
strips are liable at times to become loosened, and when this happens
great havoc is wrought among the specimens if the drawer is moved
carelessly. Besides, there is more danger of breakage.
Another way of providing a cheap and very sightly lining for the bottom
of an insect-box is illustrated in Fig. 70. A frame of wood like a
slate-frame is provided, and on both sides paper is stretched. To
stretch the paper it ought to be soaked in water before pasting to the
frame; then when it dries it is as tight and smooth as a drum-head.
The beginner who has not a long purse will do well to preserve his
collections in boxes such as have been described. They can be obtained
quite cheaply and are most excellent. Cabinets are more or less of a
luxury for the amateur, and are only a necessity in the case of great
collections which are constantly being consulted. The boxes may be
arranged upon shelves. Some of the largest and best collections in the
world are preserved in boxes, notably those of the United States
National Museum.
[Illustration FIG. 70.--_A_, _A_, side and bottom of box; _B_, frame
fitting into box; _C_, space which must be left between frame and bottom
of box; _P_, _P_, paper stretched on frame.]
_Labeling._--Each specimen should have on the pin below the specimen a
small label giving the date of capture, if known, and the locality.
Below this should be a label of larger size, giving its scientific name,
if ascertained, and the sex. Labels should be neat and uniform in size.
A good size for labels for large species is about one inch long and five
eighths of an inch wide. The labels should be written in a fine but
legible hand. Smaller labels may be used for smaller species. A
crow-quill pen and India ink are to be preferred in writing labels.
_Arrangement of Specimens._--Specimens are best arranged in rows. The
males should be pinned in first in the series, after them the females.
Varieties should follow the species. After these should be placed any
aberrations or monstrosities which the collector may possess. The name
of the genus should precede all the species contained in the collection,
and after each species the specific name should be placed =Fig. 71= shows
the manner of arrangement.
[Illustration FIG. 71.--Manner of arranging specimens in cabinet.]
_Insect Pests._--In order to preserve collections, great care must be
taken to exclude the various forms of insect pests, which are likely,
unless destroyed and kept from attacking the specimens, to ruin them
utterly in comparatively a short time. The pests which are most to be
feared are beetles belonging to the genera _Dermestes_ and _Anthrenus_.
In addition to these beetles, which commit their ravages in the larval
stage, moths and mites prey upon collections. Moths are very
infrequently, however, found in collections of insects, and in a long
experience the writer has known only one or two instances in which any
damage was inflicted upon specimens by the larvæ of moths. Mites are
much more to be dreaded.
[Illustration FIG. 72.--Naphthaline cone.]
In order to prevent the ravages of insects, all specimens, before
putting them away into the boxes or drawers of the cabinet in which they
are to be preserved, should be placed in a tight box in which
chloroform, or, better, carbon bisulphide, in a small pan is put, and
they should be left here for at least twenty-four hours, until it is
certain that all life is extinct. Then they should be transferred to the
tight boxes or drawers in which they are to be kept. The presence of
insect pests in a collection is generally first indicated by fine dust
under the specimen, this dust being the excrement of the larva which is
committing depredations upon the specimen. In case the presence of the
larva is detected, a liberal dose of chloroform should at once be
administered to the box or tray in which the specimen is contained. The
specimen itself ought to be removed, and may be dipped into benzine.
Naphthaline crystals or camphor is generally employed to keep out insect
pests from boxes. They are very useful to deter the entrance of pests,
but when they have once been introduced into a collection neither
naphthaline nor camphor will kill them. Naphthaline is prepared in the
form of cones attached to a pin, and these cones may be placed in one
corner of the box. They are made by Blake & Co. of Philadelphia, and are
in vogue among entomologists. However, a good substitute for the cones
may very easily be made by taking the ordinary moth-balls which are sold
everywhere. By heating a pin red-hot in the flame of an alcohol-lamp it
may be thrust into the moth-ball; as it enters it melts the naphthaline,
which immediately afterward cools and holds the pin securely fixed in
the moth-ball. In attaching these pins to moth-balls, hold the pin
securely in a forceps while heating it in the flame of the lamp, and
thrust the red-hot pin into the center of the ball. Naphthaline crystals
and camphor may be secured in the corner of the box by tying up a
quantity of them in a small piece of netting and pinning the little bag
thus made in the corner of the tray. By following these directions
insect pests may be kept out of collections. It is proper to observe
that while carbon bisulphide is more useful even than chloroform in
killing pests, and is also cheaper, it should be used with great care,
because when mixed with atmospheric air it is highly explosive, and its
use should never take place where there are lamps burning or where there
is fire. Besides, its odor is extremely unpleasant, unless it has been
washed in mercury.
_Greasy Specimens._--Specimens occasionally become greasy. When this
happens they may be cleansed by pinning them down on a piece of cork
secured to the bottom of a closed vessel, and gently filling it with
benzine, refined gasoline, or ether. After leaving them long enough to
remove all the grease they may be taken out of the bath and allowed to
dry in a place where there is no dust. This operation should not take
place near a lighted lamp or a fire.
_Mould._--When specimens have become mouldy or mildewed it is best to
burn them up if they can be spared. If not, after they have been
thoroughly dried remove the mould with a sable or camel's-hair pencil
which has been rubbed in carbolic acid (crystals liquefied by heat).
Mildew in a cabinet is hard to eradicate, and heat, even to burning, is
about the only cure, except the mild use of carbolic acid in the way
suggested.
_Repairing Specimens._--Torn and ragged specimens are to be preferred to
none at all. "The half of a loaf is better than no bread." Until the
torn specimen can be replaced by a better, it is always well to retain
it in a collection. But it is sometimes possible to repair torn
specimens in such a way as to make them more presentable. If an antenna,
for instance, has been broken off, it may be replaced neatly, so that
only a microscopic examination will disclose the fact that it was once
away from the place where it belonged. If a wing has been slit, the rent
may be mended so neatly that only a very careful observer can detect the
fact. If a piece has been torn out of a wing, it may be replaced by the
corresponding portion of the wing of another specimen of the same sex of
the same species in such a way as almost to defy detection. The prime
requisites for this work are patience, a steady hand, a good eye, a
great deal of "gumption," a few setting-needles, a jeweler's forceps,
and a little shellac dissolved in alcohol. The shellac used in replacing
a missing antenna should be of a thickish consistency; in repairing
wings it should be well thinned down with alcohol. In handling broken
antennæ it is best to use a fine sable pencil, which may be moistened
very lightly by applying it to the tip of the tongue. With this it is
possible to pick up a loose antenna and place it wherever it is desired.
Apply the shellac to the torn edges of a broken wing with great delicacy
of touch and in very small quantity. Avoid putting on the adhesive
material in "gobs and slathers." Repairing is a fine art, which is only
learned after some patient experimentation, and is only to be practised
when absolutely necessary. The habit of some dealers of patching up
broken specimens with parts taken from other species is highly to be
reprobated. Such specimens are more or less caricatures of the real
thing, and no truly scientific man will admit such scarecrows into his
collection, except under dire compulsion.
[Illustration FIG. 73.--Butterflies pinned into a box overlapping one
another, or "shingled."]
_Packing and Forwarding Specimens._--It often becomes necessary to
forward specimens from one place to another. If it is intended to ship
specimens which have been mounted upon pins they should be securely
pinned in a box lined with cork. A great many expanded specimens may be
pinned in a box by resorting to the method known as "shingling," which
is illustrated in Fig. 73. By causing the wings of specimens to overlap,
as is shown in the figure, a great many can be accommodated in a small
space. When the specimens have been packed the box should be securely
closed, its edges shut with paper, after some drops of chloroform have
been poured into the box, and then this box should be placed in an outer
box containing excelsior, hay, cotton, or loose shavings in sufficient
abundance to prevent the jarring of the inner box and consequent
breakage. Where specimens are forwarded in envelopes, having been
collected in the field, and are not pinned, the precaution of
surrounding them with packing such as has been described is not
necessary, but the box in which they are shipped should always be strong
enough to resist breakage. Things forwarded by mail or by express always
receive rough treatment, and the writer has lost many fine specimens
which have been forwarded to him because the shipper was careless in
packing.
_Pins._--In the preceding pages frequent reference has been made to
insect-pins. These are pins which are made longer and thinner than is
the case with ordinary pins, and are therefore adaptable to the special
use to which they are put. There are a number of makers whose pins have
come into vogue. What are known as Karlsbader and Kläger pins, made in
Germany, are the most widely used. They are made of ordinary pin-metal
in various sizes. The Karlsbader pins have very fine points, but, owing
to the fineness of the points and the softness of the metal, they are
very apt to buckle, or turn up at the points. The Kläger pins are not
exposed to the same objection, as the points are not quite so fine. The
best pins, however, which are now made are those which have recently
been introduced by Messrs. Kirby, Beard, & Co. of England. They are made
of soft steel, lacquered, possessing very great strength and
considerable flexibility. The finest-sized pin of this make has as much
strength as the largest pin of the other makes that have been mentioned,
and the writer has never known them to buckle at the tip, even when
pinned through the hardest insect tissues. While these pins are a little
more expensive than others, the writer does not fail to give them an
unqualified preference.
[Illustration FIG. 74.--Butterfly-forceps, half-size.]
_The Forceps._--An instrument which is almost indispensable to the
student of entomology is the forceps. There are many forms of forceps,
and it is not necessary to speak at length in reference to the various
shapes; but for the use of the student of butterflies the forceps made
by the firm of Blake & Co. of Philadelphia is to be preferred to all
others. The head of this firm is himself a famous entomologist, and he
has given us in the forceps which is illustrated in Fig. 74 an
instrument which comes as near perfection as the art of the maker of
instruments can produce. The small forceps represented in Fig. 75 is
very useful in pinning small specimens. In handling mounted specimens it
is well always to take hold of the pin below the specimen with the
forceps, and insert it into the cork by the pressure of the forceps. If
the attempt is made to pin down a specimen with the naked fingers
holding the pin by the head, the finger is apt to slip and the specimen
to be ruined.
[Illustration FIG. 75.--Insect-forceps.]
IMMORTALITY
A butterfly basked on a baby's grave,
Where a lily had chanced to grow:
"Why art thou here with thy gaudy dye,
When she of the blue and sparkling eye
Must sleep in the churchyard low?"
Then it lightly soared thro' the sunny air,
And spoke from its shining track:
"I was a worm till I won my wings,
And she, whom thou mourn'st, like a seraph sings;
Would'st thou call the blest one back?"
SIGOURNEY.
CHAPTER III
THE CLASSIFICATION OF BUTTERFLIES
"Winged flowers, or flying gems."
MOORE.
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. When a science treats of things, it is
necessary that these things should become the subject of investigation,
until at last their relation to one another, and the whole class of
things to which they belong, has been discovered. Men who devote
themselves to the discovery of the relation of things and to their
orderly classification are known as systematists.
The great leader in this work was the immortal Linnæus, the "Father of
Natural History," as he has been called. Upon the foundation laid by him
in his work entitled "Systema Naturæ," or "The System of Nature," all
who have followed after him have labored, and the result has been the
rise of the great modern sciences of botany and zoölogy, which treat
respectively of the vegetable and animal kingdoms.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE VI |
| |
| Reproduced with the kind permission of Dr. S.H. Scudder, from|
| "The Butterflies of New England," vol. iii, Plate 85. |
| |
| CHRYSALIDS IN COLOR AND IN OUTLINE--PAPILIONINÆ AND |
| HESPERIIDÆ |
| |
| 1. _Papilio turnus._ |
| 2. _Papilio turnus._ Dorsal view. |
| 3. _Papilio turnus._ |
| 4. _Papilio turnus._ |
| 5. _Papilio troilus._ Dorsal view. |
| 6. _Papilio troilus._ |
| 7. _Papilio troilus._ |
| 8. _Papilio cresphontes._ |
| 9. _Papilio cresphontes._ Dorsal view. |
| 10. _Papilio cresphontes._ |
| 11. _Papilio ajax._ |
| 12. _Papilio ajax._ Dorsal view. |
| 13. _Papilio asterias._ |
| 14. _Papilio philenor._ Dorsal view. |
| 15. _Papilio philenor._ Dorsal view. |
| 16. _Papilio philenor._ |
| 17. _Papilio philenor._ |
| 18. _Papilio asterias._ Dorsal view. |
| 19. _Papilio asterias._ |
| 20. _Papilio philenor._ |
| 21. _Achalarus lycidas._ |
| 22. _Epargyreus tityrus._ |
| 23. _Eudamus proteus._ From the original |
| by Abbot in the British Museum. |
| 24. _Thorybes bathyllus._ From the original |
| by Abbot in the British Museum. |
| 25. _Epargyreus tityrus._ |
| 26. _Epargyreus tityrus._ |
| 27. _Thanaos icelus._ |
| 28. _Thorybes pylades._ |
| 29. _Pholisora catullus._ From the original |
| by Abbot in the British Museum. |
| 30. _Thanaos lucilius._ |
| 31. _Thanaos lucilius._ Dorsal view. |
| 32. _Thanaos lucilius._ |
| 33. _Thanaos juvenalis._ |
| 34. _Thanaos persius._ |
| 35. _Hesperia montivaga._ From the original |
| by Abbot in the British Museum. |
| 36. _Pholisora catullus._ |
| 37. _Thanaos martialis._ From the original |
| by Abbot in the British Museum. |
| 38. _Thanaos brizo._ From the original |
| by Abbot in Dr. Boisduval's library. |
| 39. _Hylephila phyloeus._ From the original |
| by Abbot in Dr. Boisduval's library. |
| 40. _Amblyscirtes vialis._ |
| 41. _Pholisora catullus._ |
| 42. _Thymelicus oetna._ From the original |
| by Abbot in Dr. Boisduval's library. |
| 43. _Atalopedes huron._ |
| 44. _Limochores taumas._ |
| 45. _Amblyscirtes samoset._ After the original |
| by Abbot in the British Museum. |
| 46. _Lerema accius._ After the original by |
| Abbot in Boston Society of Natural History. |
| 47. _Atalopedes huron._ |
| 48. _Calpodes ethlius._ |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE VI.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_The Place of Butterflies in the Animal Kingdom._--The animal kingdom,
for purposes of classification, has been subdivided into various groups
known as subkingdoms. One of these subkingdoms contains those animals
which, being without vertebræ, or an internal skeleton, have an external
skeleton, composed of a series of horny rings, attached to which are
various organs. This subkingdom is known by naturalists under the
name of the _Arthropoda._ The word _Arthropoda_ is derived from the
Greek language and is compounded of two words, (_αρθρον_), meaning a
_joint_ and (_πους_), meaning a _foot_. The _Arthropoda_ seem at first
sight to be made up of jointed rings and feet; hence the name.
The subkingdom of the _Arthropoda_ is again subdivided into six classes.
These are the following:
Class I. The _Crustacea_ (Shrimps, Crabs, Water-fleas, etc.).
Class II. The _Podostomata_ (King-crabs, Trilobites [fossil], etc.).
Class III. The _Malacopoda_ (_Peripatus_, a curious genus of worm-like
creatures, found in the tropics, and allied to the Myriapods in some
important respects).
Class IV. The _Myriapoda_ (Centipedes, etc.).
Class V. The _Arachnida_ (Spiders, Mites, etc.).
Class VI. The _Insecta_ (Insects).
That branch of zoölogy which treats of insects is known as entomology.
The _Insecta_ have been variously subdivided by different scientific
writers, but the following subdivision has much in it to commend it, and
will suffice as an outline for the guidance of the advanced student.
CLASS VI. INSECTA (INSECTS PROPER)
HETEROMETABOLA
For the most part undergoing only a partial metamorphosis in the
development from the egg to the imago.
ORDERS
1. _Thysanura._
Suborders:
_Collembola_ (Podura, Springtails).
_Symphyla_ (Scolopendrella).
_Cinura_ (Bristletails, etc.).
2. _Dermatoptera_ (Earwigs).
3. _Pseudoneuroptera._
Suborders:
_Mallophaga_ (Bird-lice).
_Platyptera_ (Stone-flies, Termites, etc.).
_Odonata_ (Dragon-flies, etc.).
_Ephemerina_ (May-flies, etc.).
4. _Neuroptera_ (Corydalis, Ant-lion, Caddis-flies, etc.).
5. Orthoptera (Cockroach, Mantis, Mole-cricket, Grasshopper, Katydid,
etc.).
6. _Hemiptera._
Suborders:
_Parasita_ (Lice).
_Sternorhyncha_ (Aphids, Mealy Bugs, etc.).
_Homoptera_ (Cicada, Tree-hoppers, etc.).
_Heteroptera_ (Ranatra, Belostoma, Water-spiders, Squash-bugs,
Bedbugs, etc.).
7. _Coleoptera._
Suborders:
_Cryptotetramera_ (Lady-birds, etc.).
_Cryptopentamera_ (Leaf-beetles, Longhorns, Weevils, etc.).
_Heteromera_ (Blister-beetles, Meal-beetles, etc.).
_Pentamera_ (Fire-flies, Skipjacks, June-bugs, Dung-beetles,
Stag-beetles,
Rove-beetles, Tiger-beetles, etc.).
METABOLA
Undergoing for the most part a complete metamorphosis from egg, through
larva and pupa, to imago.
ORDERS
8. _Aphaniptera_ (Fleas).
9. _Diptera._
Suborders:
_Orthorhapha_ (Hessian Flies, Buffalo-gnats, Mosquitos,
Crane-flies, Horse-flies).
_Cyclorhapha_ (Syrphus, Bot-flies, Tsetse, House-flies, etc.).
10. _Lepidoptera._
Suborders:
_Rhopalocera_ (Butterflies).
_Heterocera_ (Moths).
11. _Hymenoptera._
Suborders:
_Terebrantia_ (Saw-flies, Gall-wasps, Ichneumon-flies, etc.).
_Aculeata_ (Ants, Cuckoo-flies, Digger-wasps, True Wasps, Bees).
It will be seen by glancing at the foregoing table that the
butterflies and moths are included as suborders in the tenth group of
the list, to which is applied the name _Lepidoptera_. This word, like
most other scientific words, is derived from the Greek, and is
compounded of the noun (_λεπις_), which signifies a _scale_, and the
noun (_πτερον_), which signifies a _wing_. The butterflies and moths
together constitute the order of scale-winged insects. The
appropriateness of this name will no doubt be at once recognized by
every reader, who, having perhaps unintentionally rubbed off some of
the minute scales which clothe the wings of a butterfly, has taken the
trouble to examine them under a microscope, or who has attentively
read what has been said upon this subject in the first chapter of
this book. By referring again to the classification which has been
given, it will be noted that the last four orders in the list agree in
that the creatures included within them undergo for the most part what
is known as a complete metamorphosis; that is to say, they pass
through four successive stages of development, existing first as eggs,
then as worm-like larvæ, or caterpillars, then as pupæ, and finally as
perfect, fully developed insects, gifted for the most part with the
power of flight, and capable of reproducing their kind. All of this
has been to some extent already elucidated in the first chapter of the
present volume, but it may be well to remind the reader of these facts
at this point.
[Illustration FIG. 76.--Antennæ of butterflies.]
A question which is frequently asked by those who are not familiar with
the subject relates to the manner in which it is possible to distinguish
between moths and butterflies. A partial answer can be made in the light
of the habits of the two classes of lepidoptera. 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. Upon the basis of mere
habit, then, we are able only to obtain a partial clue to the
distinction between the two suborders. A more definite distinction is
based upon structure, and specifically upon the structure of the
antennæ. Butterflies have long, thread-like antennæ, provided with a
swelling at the extremity, giving them a somewhat club-shaped appearance
(Fig. 76). This form of antennæ is very unusual among the moths, and
only occurs in a few rare genera, found in tropical countries, which
seem to represent connecting-links between the butterflies and the
moths. All the true moths which are found within the limits of the
United States and Canada have antennæ which are not club-shaped, but
are of various other forms. Some moths have thread-like antennæ tapering
to a fine point; others have feather-shaped antennæ; others still have
antennæ which are prismatic in form, and provided with a little hook, or
spur, at the end; and there are many modifications and variations of
these forms. The club-shaped form of the antennæ of butterflies has led
naturalists to call them _Rhopalocera_, as has been already explained in
speaking of this subject on page 17. Moths are called _Heterocera_. The
word _Heterocera_ is compounded of the Greek word (_πτερον_), meaning
_other_, and the Greek word (_κερας_), meaning a _horn_. They are
lepidoptera which have antennæ which are _other than club-shaped_.
Besides the distinctions which exist in the matter of the form of the
antennæ, there are distinctions in the veins of the wings, and in the
manner of carrying them when at rest or in flight, which are quite
characteristic of the two groups; but all of these things the attentive
student will quickly learn for himself by observation.
[Illustration FIG. 77.--Antennæ of moths.]
_Scientific Arrangement._--Having thus cast a passing glance at the
differences which exist between moths and butterflies, we take up the
question of the subdivision of the butterflies into natural groups.
Various systems of arranging butterflies have been suggested from time
to time by learned writers, and for a knowledge of these systems the
student may consult works which treat of them at length. It is
sufficient for beginners, for whom this book is principally written, to
observe that in modern science, for purposes of convenience, as well as
from regard for essential truth, all individuals are looked upon as
belonging to a _species_. A species includes all those individuals,
which have a common ancestry, and are so related in form and structure
as to be manifestly separable from all other similarly constituted
assemblages of individuals. For instance, all the large cats having a
tawny skin, and in the male a shaggy mane, constitute a species, which
we call the lion; the eagles in the eastern United States, which in
adult plumage have a snow-white head and neck and a white tail,
constitute a species, which we know as the "white-headed" or
"bald-headed" eagle. Species may then be grouped together, and those
which are manifestly closely related to one another are regarded as
forming a natural assemblage of species, to which we give the name of a
_genus_. For example, all the large cats, such as the lion, the tiger,
the puma, and the jaguar, are grouped together by naturalists, and form
a genus to which is given the Latin name _Felis_, meaning _cat_. The
name of the genus always comes before that of the species. Thus the
tiger is spoken of scientifically as _Felis tigris_. The genera which
are closely related to one another may again be assembled as
_subfamilies_; and the subfamilies may be united to form _families_. For
instance, all the various genera of cats form a family, which is known
as the _Felidæ_, or the Cat Family. A group of families constitutes a
_suborder_ or an _order_. The cats belong to the _Carnivora_, or order
of flesh-eating animals.
In zoölogy family names are formed with the termination _-idæ_, and
subfamily names with the termination _-inæ_.
Everything just said in regard to the classification of the higher
animals applies likewise to butterflies. Let us take as an illustration
the common milkweed butterfly. Linnæus for a fanciful reason gave this
insect the name _Plexippus_. This is its specific name, by which it is
distinguished from all other butterflies. It belongs to the genus
_Anosia_. The genus _Anosia_ is one of the genera which make up the
subfamily of the _Euploeinæ_. The _Euploeinæ_ belong to the great family
of the _Nymphalidæ_. The _Nymphalidæ_ are a part of the suborder of the
_Rhopalocera_, or true butterflies, one of the two great subdivisions of
the order _Lepidoptera_, belonging to the great class _Insecta_, the
highest class in the subkingdom of the _Arthropoda_. The matter may be
represented in a tabular form, in the reverse order from that which has
been given:
Subkingdom, _Arthropoda_.
Class, _Insecta_.
Order, _Lepidoptera_.
Suborder, _Rhopalocera_.
Family, _Nymphalidæ_.
Subfamily, _Euploeinæ_.
Genus, _Anosia_.
Species, _Plexippus_ (Milkweed Butterfly).
_Varieties._--A still further subdivision is in some cases recognized
as necessary. A species which has a wide range over an extensive
territory may vary in different parts of the territory within which it
is found. The butterflies of certain common European species are found
also in Japan and Corea, but, as a rule, they are much larger in the
latter countries than they are in Europe, and in some cases more
brightly colored. Naturalists have therefore distinguished the Asiatic
from the European form by giving the former what is known as a varietal
name. Similar differences occur among butterflies on the continent of
North America. The great yellow and black-barred swallowtail butterfly
known as _Papilio turnus_ occurs from Florida to Alaska. But the
specimens from Alaska are always much smaller than those from other
regions, and have a very dwarfed appearance. This dwarfed form
constitutes what is known as a local race, or variety, of the species.
The members of a species which occur upon an island frequently differ in
marked respects from specimens which occur upon the adjacent mainland.
By insulation and the process of through-breeding the creature has come
to acquire characteristics which separate it in a marked degree from the
closely allied continental form, and yet not sufficiently to justify us
in treating it as a distinct species. It represents what is known as an
insular race, or variety, and we give it therefore a varietal name.
Naturalists also distinguish between seasonal, dimorphic, melanic, and
albino forms. Names descriptive or designatory of these forms are
frequently applied to them. All of this will become plainer in the
course of the study of the succeeding pages, and in the effort to
classify specimens which the student will make.
_Sex._--The designation of the sex is important in the case of all
well-ordered collections of zoölogical specimens. As a measure of
convenience, the male is usually indicated by the sign of Mars, ♂, while
the female is indicated by the sign of Venus, ♀. The inscription,
"_Argynnis Diana_, ♂," therefore means that the specimen is a male of
_Argynnis Diana_, and the inscription, "_Argynnis Diana_, ♀," means that
the specimen is a female of the same species. These signs are invariably
employed by naturalists to mark the sexes.
_The Division of Butterflies into Families._--Without attempting to go
deeply into questions of classification at the present point, it will
be well for us to note the subdivisions which have been made into the
larger groups, known as families, and to show how butterflies belonging
to one or the other of these may be distinguished from one another.
There are five of these families represented within the territory of
which this book takes notice. These five families are the following:
1. The NYMPHALIDÆ, or "Brush-footed Butterflies."
2. The LEMONIIDÆ, or "Metal-marks."
3. The LYCÆNIDÆ, or "Blues," "Coppers," and "Hair-streaks".
4. The PAPILIONIDÆ, or the "Swallowtails" and their allies.
5. The HESPERIIDÆ, or the "Skippers."
The NYMPHALIDÆ, the "Brush-footed Butterflies."
The butterflies of this family may be distinguished as a great class
from all other butterflies by the fact that in _both sexes the first, or
prothoracic, pair of legs is greatly dwarfed, useless for walking, and
therefore carried folded up against the breast_. From this peculiarity
they have also been called the "Four-footed Butterflies." This is the
largest of all the families of the butterflies, and has been subdivided
into many subfamilies. Some of the genera are composed of small species,
but most of the genera are made up of medium-sized or large species. The
family is geologically very ancient, and most of the fossil butterflies
which have been discovered belong to it. The caterpillars are in most of
the subfamilies provided with horny or fleshy projections. The
chrysalids always hang suspended by the tail.
The LEMONIIDÆ, the "Metal-marks."
This family is distinguished from others by the fact that _the males
have four ambulatory or walking feet, while the females have six such
feet. The antennæ are relatively longer than in the Lycænidæ._ The
butterflies belonging to this great group are mostly confined to the
tropics of the New World, and only a few genera and species are included
in the region covered by this volume. They are usually quite small, but
are colored in a bright and odd manner, spots and checkered markings
being very common. Many are extremely brilliant in their colors. _The
caterpillars are small and contracted. Some are said to have chrysalids
which are suspended; others have chrysalids girdled and attached at the
anal extremity, like the Lycænidæ. The butterflies in many genera have
the habit of alighting on the under side of leaves, with their wings
expanded._
The LYCÆNIDÆ, the "Gossamer-winged Butterflies."
This great family comprises the butterflies which are familiarly known
as the "hair-streaks," the "blues," and the "coppers." _The males have
four and the females six walking feet. The caterpillars are small,
short, and slug-shaped. The chrysalids are provided with a girdle, are
attached at the end of the abdomen, and lie closely appressed to the
surface upon which they have undergone transformation._ Blue is a very
common color in this family, which includes some of the gayest of the
small forms which are found in the butterfly world. _In alighting they
always carry their wings folded together and upright._
The PAPILIONIDÆ, the "Swallowtails" and their allies.
These butterflies _have six walking feet in both sexes. The caterpillars
are elongate, and in some genera provided with osmateria, or protrusive
organs secreting a powerful and disagreeable odor. The chrysalids are
elongate, attached at the anal extremity, and held in place by a girdle
of silk, but not closely appressed to the surface upon which they have
undergone transformation._
The HESPERIIDÆ, or the "Skippers."
They are generally _small in size, with stout bodies, very quick and
powerful in fight. They have six walking feet in both sexes. The tibiæ
of the hind feet, with few exceptions, have spurs. The caterpillars are
cylindrical, smooth, tapering forward and backward from the middle, and
generally having large globular heads. For the most part they undergo
transformation into chrysalids which have a girdle and an anal hook, or
cremaster, in a loose cocoon, composed of a few threads of silk_, and
thus approximate the moths in their habits. The genus _Megathymus_ has
the curious habit of burrowing in its larval stage in the underground
stems of the yucca.
To one or the other of these five families all the butterflies,
numbering about six hundred and fifty species, which are found from the
Rio Grande of Texas to the arctic circle, can be referred.
_Scientific Names._--From what has been said it is plain to the reader
that the student of this delightful branch of science is certain to be
called upon to use some rather long and, at first sight, uncouth words
in the pursuit of the subject. But experience, that best of teachers,
will soon enable him to master any little difficulties which may arise
from this source, and he will come finally to recognize how useful these
terms are in designating distinctions which exist, but which are often
wholly overlooked by the uneducated and unobservant. It is not, however,
necessary that the student should at the outset attempt to tax his
memory with all of the long scientific names which he encounters in this
and similar books. The late Dr. Horn of Philadelphia, who was justly
regarded, during the latter years of his life, as the most eminent
student of the _Coleoptera_, or beetles, of North America, once said to
the writer that he made it a religious duty not to try to remember all
the long scientific names belonging to the thousands of species in his
collection, but was content to have them attached to the pins holding
the specimens in his cabinets, where he could easily refer to them. The
student who is engaged in collecting and studying butterflies will very
soon come, almost without effort, to know their names, but it is not a
sin to forget them.
In writing about butterflies it is quite customary to abbreviate the
generic name by giving merely its initial. Thus in writing about the
milkweed butterfly, _Anosia plexippus_, the naturalist will designate it
as "_A. plexippus_." To the specific name he will also attach the name
of the man who gave this specific name to the insect. As Linnæus was the
first to name this insect, it is proper to add his name, when writing of
it, or to add an abbreviation of his name, as follows: "_A. plexippus_,
Linnæus," or "Linn." In speaking about butterflies it is quite common to
omit the generic name altogether and to use only the specific name. Thus
after returning in the evening from a collecting-trip, I might say, "I
was quite successful to-day. I took twenty _Aphrodites_, four _Myrinas_,
and two specimens of _Atlantis_." In this case there could be no
misunderstanding of my meaning. I took specimens of three species of the
genus _Argynnis--A. aphrodite_, _A. myrina_, and _A. atlantis_; but it
is quite enough to designate them by the specific names, without
reference to their generic classification.
_Synonyms._--It is a law among scientific men that the name first given
to an animal or plant shall be its name and shall have priority over all
other names. Now, it has happened not infrequently that an author, not
knowing that a species has been described already, has redescribed it
under another name. Such a name applied a second time to a species
already described is called a _synonym_, and may be published after the
true name. Sometimes species have had a dozen or more different names
applied to them by different writers, but all such names rank as
synonyms according to the law of priority.
_Popular Names._--Common English names for butterflies are much in vogue
in England and Scotland, and there is no reason why English names should
not be given to butterflies, as well as to birds and to plants. In the
following pages this has been done to a great extent. I have used the
names coined by Dr. S.H. Scudder and by others, so far as possible, and
have in other cases been forced myself to coin names which seemed to be
appropriate, in the hope that they may come ultimately to be widely
used. The trouble is that ordinary people do not take pains to observe
and note the distinctions which exist among the lower animals. The
vocabulary of the common farmer, or even of the ordinary professional
man, is bare of terms to point out correctly the different things which
come under the eye. All insects are "bugs" to the vulgar, and even the
airy butterfly, creature of grace and light, is put into the same
category with roaches and fleas. Apropos of the tendency to classify as
"bugs" all things which creep and are small, it may be worth while to
recall the story, which Frank Buckland tells in his "Log-book of a
Fisherman and Naturalist," of an adventure which he had, when a
school-boy, at the booking-office of the London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway Company in Dover. He had been for a short trip to Paris, and had
bought a monkey and a tortoise. Upon his return from sunny France, as he
was getting his ticket up to London, Jocko stuck his head out of the bag
in which his owner was carrying him. The ticket-agent looked down and
said, "You will pay half-fare for him." "How is that?" exclaimed young
Buckland. "Well, we charge half-fare for dogs." "But this is not a dog,"
replied the indignant lad; "this is a monkey." "Makes no difference,"
was the answer; "you must pay half-fare for him." Reluctantly the silver
was laid upon the counter. Then, thrusting his hands into the pocket of
his greatcoat, Buckland drew forth the tortoise, and, laying it down,
asked, "How much do you charge for this?" The ancient receiver of fares
furbished his spectacles, adjusted them to his nose, took a long look,
and replied, "We don't charge nothin' for them; them 's insects." It is
to be hoped that the reader of this book will in the end have a clearer
view of facts as to the classification of animals than was possessed by
the ticket-agent at Dover.
CHAPTER IV
BOOKS ABOUT NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES
_Early Writers._--The earliest descriptions of North American
butterflies are found in writings which are now almost unknown, except
to the close student of science. Linnæus described and named a number of
the commoner North American species, and some of them were figured by
Charles Clerck, his pupil, whose work entitled "Icones" was published at
Stockholm in the year 1759. Clerck's work is exceedingly rare, and the
writer believes that he has in his possession the only copy in North
America. Johann Christian Fabricius, a pupil of Linnæus, who was for
some time a professor in Kiel, and attached to the court of the King of
Denmark, published between the year 1775 and the year 1798 a number of
works upon the general subject of entomology, in which he gave
descriptions, very brief and unsatisfactory, of a number of North
American species. His descriptions were written, as were those of
Linnæus, in the Latin language. About the same time that Fabricius was
publishing his works, Peter Cramer, a Dutchman, was engaged in giving to
the world the four large quartos in which he endeavored to figure and
describe the butterflies and moths of Asia, Africa, and America.
Cramer's work was entitled "Papillons Exotiques," and contained
recognizable illustrations of quite a number of the North American
forms. The book, however, is rare and expensive to-day, but few copies
of it being accessible to American students.
Jacob Hübner, who was born at Augsburg in the year 1761, undertook the
publication, in the early part of the present century, of an elaborate
work upon the European butterflies and moths, parallel with which he
undertook a publication upon the butterflies and moths of foreign lands.
The title of his work is "Sammlung Exotischer Schmetterlinge." To this
work was added, as an appendix, partly by Hübner and partly by his
successor and co-laborer, Karl Geyer, another, entitled "Zuträge zur
Sammlung Exotischer Schmetterlinge." The two works together are
illustrated by six hundred and sixty-four colored plates. This great
publication contains some scattered figures of North American species. A
good copy sells for from three hundred and fifty to four hundred
dollars, or even more.
The first work which was devoted exclusively to an account of the
lepidoptera of North America was published in England by Sir James
Edward Smith, who was a botanist, and who gave to the world in two
volumes some of the plates which had been drawn by John Abbot, an
Englishman who lived for a number of years in Georgia. The work appeared
in two folio volumes, bearing the date 1797. It is entitled "The Natural
History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia." It contains one
hundred and four plates, in which the insects are represented in their
various stages upon their appropriate food-plants. Smith and Abbot's
work contains original descriptions of only about half a dozen of the
North American butterflies, and figures a number of species which had
been already described by earlier authors. It is mainly devoted to the
moths. This work is now rare and commands a very high price.
The next important work upon the subject was published by Dr. J.A.
Boisduval of Paris, a celebrated entomologist, who was assisted by Major
John E. Leconte. The work appeared in the year 1833, and is entitled
"Histoire Générale et Monographie des Lepidoptères et des Chenilles de
l'Amérique Septentrionale." It contains seventy-eight colored plates,
each representing butterflies of North America, in many cases giving
figures of the larva and the chrysalis as well as of the perfect insect.
The plates were based very largely upon drawings made by John Abbot, and
represent ninety-three species, while in the text there are only
eighty-five species mentioned, some of which are not figured. What has
been said of all the preceding works is also true of this: it is very
rarely offered for sale, can only be found upon occasion, and commands a
high price.
In the year 1841 Dr. Thaddeus William Harris published "A Report on the
Insects of Massachusetts which are Injurious to Vegetation." This work,
which was originally brought out in pursuance of an order of the
legislature of Massachusetts, by the Commissioners of the Zoölogical and
Botanical Survey of the State, was republished in 1842, and was followed
by a third edition in 1852. The last edition, revised and improved by
Charles L. Flint, Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of
Agriculture, appeared in 1862. This work contains a number of figures
and descriptions of the butterflies of New England, and, while now
somewhat obsolete, still contains a great deal of valuable information,
and is well worth being rescued by the student from the shelves of the
second-hand book-stalls in which it is now and then to be found. For the
New England student of entomology it remains to a greater or less extent
a classic.
In 1860 the Smithsonian Institution published a "Catalogue of the
Described Lepidoptera of North America," a compilation prepared by the
Rev. John G. Morris. This work, though very far from complete, contains
in a compact form much valuable information, largely extracted from the
writings of previous authors. It is not illustrated.
With the book prepared by Dr. Morris the first period in the development
of a literature relating to our subject may be said to close, and the
reader will observe that until the end of the sixth decade of this
century very little had been attempted in the way of systematically
naming, describing, and illustrating the riches of the insect fauna of
this continent. Almost all the work, with the exception of that done by
Harris, Leconte, and Morris, had been done by European authors.
_Later Writers._--At the close of the Civil War this country witnessed a
great intellectual awakening, and every department of science began to
find its zealous students. In the annals of entomology the year 1868 is
memorable because of the issue of the first part of the great work by
William H. Edwards, entitled "The Butterflies of North America." This
work has been within the last year (1897) brought to completion with the
publication of the third volume, and stands as a superb monument to the
scientific attainments and the inextinguishable industry of its learned
author. The three volumes are most superbly illustrated, and contain a
wealth of original drawings, representing all the stages in the
life-history of numerous species, which has never been surpassed.
Unfortunately, while including a large number of the species known to
inhabit North America, the book is nevertheless not what its title
would seem to imply, and is far from complete, several hundreds of
species not being represented in any way, either in the text or in the
illustrations. In spite of this fact it will remain to the American
student a classic, holding a place in the domain of entomology analogous
to that which is held in the science of ornithology by the "Birds of
America," by Audubon.
A work even more elaborate in its design and execution, contained in
three volumes, is "The Butterflies of New England," by Dr. Samuel
Hubbard Scudder, published in the year 1886. No more superbly
illustrated and exhaustive monograph on any scientific subject has ever
been published than this, and it must remain a 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 lepidop
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