Preface
In this little book an attempt has been made to discuss the more abundant and widely distributed butterflies of eastern North America from the point of view of their life histories and their relations to their surroundings. In so doing I have of course availed myself of the written records of a host of students of butterflies, without whose labors no such volume would be possible. Among these two names stand out preëminent—William H. Edwards and Samuel H. Scudder. Each was the author of a sumptuous work on American butterflies to which all later students must refer, both for information and for inspiration. Many others, however, have made notable contributions to our literature of these ethereal creatures. Every seeker after a knowledge of butterflies will soon find himself indebted to the writings of such investigators as the Comstocks, Denton, Dickerson, Dyar, Fernald, Fiske, Fletcher, French, Hancock, Holland, Howard, Longstaff, Newcomb, Riley, Skinner, Wright, and many others. I am glad to express my obligations to all of these for the assistance their records have given in the preparation of this book.
While a vast amount of knowledge of butterflies has already been discovered there is still more to be learned concerning them, and throughout these pages I have attempted to indicate the more important opportunities awaiting investigation. The day of the field naturalist has come again and the butterflies are well worthy of careful observations by many interested students.
The illustrations in the book require a word of credit. The eleven color plates of adult butterflies with wings spread have been made direct from a set of the remarkable transfers which Mr. Sherman F. Denton has been preparing for the last quarter-century, this particular set having been prepared especially for this book. Transfers of this sort were used as insets in Mr. Denton’s work on the “Moths and Butterflies of the United States,” published in a limited edition by J. B. Millet Company, Boston. The other plates not reproduced from photographs are from drawings by Miss Mary E. Walker or Mr. W. I. Beecroft. In case the photographs are not of my own taking, credit is given beneath each. Two of my photographs have already appeared in “Seeing Nature First” and are here used by permission of its publishers, J. B. Lippincott Company.
C. M. W.
State Normal School
Lowell, Mass.
| PAGE | |
| Preface | v |
| List of Colored Illustrations | xi |
| List of Other Illustrations | xiii |
| PART I | |
| INTRODUCTION | |
| Butterfly Transformations | 5 |
| Butterflies and Moths | 13 |
| The Scents of Butterflies | 15 |
| Butterfly Migrations | 16 |
| Hibernation or Winter Lethargy | 17 |
| Aestivation or Summer Lethargy | 21 |
| Feigning Death in Butterflies | 22 |
| Coloration of Butterflies | 24 |
| Selective Color Sense in Butterflies | 32 |
| Warning Coloration and Mimicry | 33 |
| Heliotropism | 35 |
| List and Shadow Observations | 37 |
| Parasitic Enemies | 40 |
| Rearing Butterflies from Caterpillars | 43 |
| Photographing Butterflies | 47 |
| Butterfly Collections | 49 |
| PART II | |
| PAGE | |
| True Butterflies—Superfamily Papilionoidea | 55 |
| Parnassians (Parnassiinae) | 56 |
| The Swallowtails (Papilionidae) Black Swallowtail; Giant Swallowtail; Blue Swallowtail; Green-clouded Swallowtail; Tiger Swallowtail; Palamedes Swallowtail; Short-tailed Papilio; Zebra Swallowtail; Synopsis of the Swallowtails | 57 |
| Whites, Orange-tips, and Yellows (Pieridae) | 82 |
| The Tribe of the Whites: White or Imported Cabbage Butterfly; Gray-veined White; Checkered White; Great Southern White; Synopsis of the Whites | 83 |
| The Tribe of the Orange-tips: Falcate Orange-tip; Olympian Orange-tip; Synopsis of the Orange-tips | 92 |
| The Tribe of the Yellows: Brimstone or Cloudless Sulphur; Dog’s-head; Clouded Sulphur; Orange Sulphur; Pink-edged Sulphur; Black-bordered Yellow; Little Sulphur; Dainty Sulphur; Synopsis of the Yellows | 97 |
| Nymphs (Nymphalidae) | 111 |
| The Tribe of the Fritillaries: Gulf Fritillary; Variegated Fritillary; Diana Fritillary; Regal Fritillary; Great Spangled Fritillary; Silver-spot Fritillary; Mountain Silver-spot; White Mountain Fritillary; Meadow Fritillary; Silver-bordered Fritillary; Synopsis of the Fritillaries | 115 |
| The Tribe of the Crescent-spots: Baltimore Checker-spot; Harris’s Checker-spot; Silver Crescent; Pearl Crescent; Synopsis of the Crescent-spots | 135 |
| The Tribe of the Angle-wings: Violet-tip; Hop-merchant or Comma; Gray Comma; Green Comma; Red Admiral or Nettle Butterfly; Painted Beauty; Painted Lady or Cosmopolite; Mourning-cloak; American tortoise-shell; White J Butterfly or Compton Tortoise; Buckeye; Synopsis of the Angle-wings (I. Polygonias—II. Vanessids) | 150 |
| The Tribe of the Sovereigns: Viceroy; Banded Purple; Red-spotted Purple; Vicereine; Synopsis of the Sovereigns | 192 |
| The Tribe of the Emperors: Goatweed Emperor; Gray Emperor; Tawny Emperor; Synopsis of the Emperors | 207 |
| Meadows-browns or Satyrs (Agapetidae) Common Wood Nymph or Grayling; Southern Wood Nymph; Pearly Eye; Eyed Brown; White Mountain Butterfly; Arctic Satyr; Little Wood Satyr; Other Meadow-browns; Synopsis of Meadow-browns | 214 |
| Heliconians (Heliconidae) Zebra Butterfly | 229 |
| Milkweed Butterflies (Lymnadidae) Monarch; Queen | 232 |
| Snout Butterflies or Long-beaks (Libytheidae) Snout Butterfly | 236 |
| Metal-marks (Riodinidae) Small Metal-mark; Large Metal-mark | 239 |
| Gossamer-wings (Lycaenidae) | 240 |
| The Tribe of the Hair-streaks: Great Purple Hair-streak; Gray Hair-streak; Banded Hair-streak; Striped Hair-streak; Acadian Hair-streak; Olive Hair-streak; Synopsis of the Hair-streaks | 242 |
| The Tribe of the Coppers: Wanderer; American Copper; Synopsis of the Coppers | 252 |
| The Tribe of the Blues: Spring Azure; Scudder’s Blue; Tailed Blue; Silvery Blue: Synopsis of the Blues | 258 |
| PART III | |
| PAGE | |
| The Skipper Butterflies—Superfamily Hesperioidea | 266 |
| Giant Skippers (Megathymidae) Yucca-borer Skipper | 267 |
| Common Skippers (Hesperiidae) | 268 |
| The Tribe of the Larger Skippers: Silver-spotted Skipper; Long-tailed Skipper; Juvenal’s Dusky-wing; Sleepy Dusky-wing; Persius’s Dusky-wing; Sooty Wing | 269 |
| The Tribe of the Smaller Skippers: Tawny-edged Skipper; Roadside Skipper; Least Skipper | 278 |
| PAGE | |
| Viceroy Butterflies Visiting Strawberries | (On Cover) |
| The Regal Fritillary | Frontispiece |
| The Carolina Locust | 33 |
| The Black Swallowtail | 48 |
| The Cynthia Moth | 49 |
| Giant Swallowtails | 64 |
| The Blue Swallowtail | 65 |
| Two of the Swallowtails: Palamedes and Giant | 66 |
| The Green-clouded Swallowtail | 67 |
| Caterpillars of the Green-clouded Swallowtail | 80 |
| The Tiger Swallowtail | 96 |
| Imported Cabbage Butterfly | 97 |
| Clouded Sulphur Butterfly | 112 |
| The Zebra Swallowtail: Summer Form | 112-113 |
| The Zebra Swallowtail Visiting Papaw Blossoms | 112-113 |
| Some of the Tribe of Yellows | 113 |
| Silver-spot Fritillary and Gulf Fritillary | 128 |
| Gulf Fritillary, Silver-bordered Fritillary, and Baltimore Checker-spot | 129 |
| The Hop Merchant | 144 |
| Three Angle-wings (American Tortoise-shell, Red Admiral, Violet-tip): Upper Surface | 160-161 |
| Three Angle-wings (American Tortoise-shell, Red Admiral, Violet-tip): Lower Surface | 160-161 |
| The Painted Beauty | 161 |
| Three More Angle-wings, Buckeye, Painted Beauty, Cosmopolite | 176 |
| The Mourning-cloak | 177 |
| Some Common Skippers | 192 |
| The Stages of the Viceroy | 193 |
| Banded Purple, Red-spotted Purple, and Blue-eyed Grayling | 208 |
| Three Emperor Butterflies | 209 |
| The Zebra Butterfly | 224 |
| Monarch Butterfly, Crysalis and Caterpillar | 241 |
| Spring Azure, Falcate Orange-tip, Bronze Copper, and Great Purple Hair-streak | 256 |
| Silver-spotted Skipper | 273 |
| PAGE | |
| Swallowtail Butterfly Just Out of Chrysalis | 16 |
| Tiger Swallowtail; Hammock Caterpillar | 17 |
| Butterfly Feigning Death; Butterfly in Hibernating Position | 32 |
| Monarch Butterfly: Change from Caterpillar to Chrysalis | 32-33 |
| Monarch Butterfly: Change from Chrysalis to Adult | 32-33 |
| Migration of Monarch Butterflies | 48-49 |
| The Improved Open Vivarium | 48-49 |
| Black Swallowtail Visiting Thistle | 64-65 |
| Imported Cabbage Butterfly, Magnified | 64-65 |
| Imported Cabbage Butterfly; Blue-eyed Grayling | 81 |
| Four-footed Butterflies: Viceroy and Mourning-cloak | 145 |
| Monarch Butterfly Resting; Flashlight Photograph of Monarchs in Migration | 160 |
| Photographs of a Pet Monarch Butterfly | 225 |
| The Snout Butterfly; the Giant Swallowtail | 240 |
| Stages of the Gray Hair-streak | 257 |
| The Silver-spotted Skipper | 272 |