a, before shedding skin. b, in act of shedding skin. c, trying to catch hold of silk button
THE BUTTERFLY BOOK
To learn what I have involved a large outlay of money and much patient study. When, therefore, it was suggested to me to prepare a comprehensive book on the butterflies of the United States and Canada I resolved to undertake the task; if for no other reason, to spare the rising generation of young Americans from the expense and trouble to which I had been subjected in trying to master the subject. I resolved to illustrate the book profusely, using so far as possible the types or identical specimens on which Edwards and others had founded their descriptions. The result was “The Butterfly Book,” and I am now following that up with a small manual entitled “The Butterfly Guide.” Both of these works are illustrated with colored figures. With these books the boys and girls of America are no longer compelled to wade, as I did, through piles of books and pamphlets in order to get the information they desire.
THE VALUE OF THE STUDY OF BUTTERFLIES
I feel that a brief recital of the way in which I came to be a student of this delightful subject may interest others, and the story may encourage some of the bright boys of America to take up the study of entomology earnestly. It is no mean subject. There was a time when “bugologists,” as students of insect life were facetiously called, were classified as a variety of harmless cranks; but that day has passed. The discovery that some knowledge of entomology is necessary to success in agriculture, and that many diseases are due to infection brought about by insects, has led the public to recognize the value of these pursuits from a social and economic standpoint. But enough of this! Now for the butterflies!
Copyright by The Century Co.
MONARCH BUTTERFLY
Fig. 6