Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tom Cosmas and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: _From a drawing by S. Shimotori_ _See page 120_ THE REGAL FRITILLARY, FEMALE] _LITTLE NATURE LIBRARY_ ======================= BUTTERFLIES WORTH KNOWING BY CLARENCE M. WEED, D. Sc. AUTHOR OF _Seeing Nature First_, _Nature Biographies_, _Ten New England Blossoms_, _The Flower Beautiful_, _etc._ [Illustration: "Fructus Quam Folia"] _Illustrated by Forty-eight Plates Thirty-two in Color_ PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY FOR NELSON DOUBLEDAY, INC. 1922 _Copyright, 1917, by_ DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY _All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian_ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. 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 preeminent--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.