Whether the Viceroy deserves its celebrity as an insect mimic or not, it is well worthy of study for other reasons. It is a common and attractive butterfly and it has most interesting habits in the larval state. It is found over a large part of North America and flies freely from spring until autumn over meadows, fields, and open glades. _The Yearly Cycle of Life_ To trace the yearly cycle of this butterfly's life, let us begin with one of the mother insects flitting along a stream in early summer. She stops now and then to lay an egg on the tip of a leaf on a willow or poplar. She then continues on her way occasionally sipping nectar from any early flowers she may chance to find, and continuing her leisurely life perhaps for several weeks. The egg thus laid upon the poplar leaf remains in position for a week or more, unless it should be devoured by some wandering ant or discovered by some tiny parasite. If it escapes these dangers, it hatches into a minute caterpillar that escapes from the egg shell through a hole in its side. After it has come out it turns around and eats the remainder of the shell. It then begins feeding upon the tender tissue of the leaf it is resting upon, nibbling at the sides until its appetite is satisfied. Then it retires to the midrib on the lower surface where it remains quietly through the day and thereafter feeds chiefly at night. After about a week it becomes too large for the skin with which it was born, so it moults and immediately devours its cast skin. It continues these operations of feeding and moulting at occasional intervals for several weeks, finally becoming a rather large and curious looking caterpillar, mottled in greenish olive and light gray, with two large horn-like projections from the front of the body. It finally becomes full grown in this larval state. Then it spins a web of silk upon the bark of the twig and entangles the hooked claws of its hind legs in the silken web. It thus hangs downward until the larval skin is shuffled off and the curious pupa with the conspicuous hump upon the middle of its back remains in its place. This chrysalis is of a mottled coloring, very similar to that of the caterpillar. A week or so later the chrysalis skin breaks open, and the butterfly comes out, catching hold of the twig with its legs and hanging quietly in position while its wings expand.