=The Long-tailed Skipper= _Eudamus proteus_ This is perhaps the most easily recognized of all the Skippers found in the United States for it is the only one that looks like a Swallowtail. Its hind wings project backward as long, broad tails in a way that marks the insect at once as different from anything else. It expands nearly two inches and when the front wings are spread at right angles, the distance from the apex of the front wing to the end of the tail of the hind wing just about equals the expanse. The general color is dark brown, with about eight more or less rectangular silvery spots on each front wing. This is distinctly a tropical species which is common along the Gulf Coast from Mexico to Florida. It ranges north along the Atlantic Coast to New York City and even to Connecticut. In the South Atlantic states it is common, but toward the northern limits of its range it is very rare. In the West Indies this butterfly is very common and has been observed to rest with its wings vertical, the front ones held far back between the hind ones and the tails of the latter held at right angles to the plane of the wings. Apparently, this curious fact was first noted by Dr. G. B. Longstaff. Of course in museum specimens the wings have been flattened into the same plane during the process of drying, so that this peculiarity would not be noticed. [Illustration: _Photograph by A. H. Verrill_ _See page 270_ Upper Surface Lower Surface THE SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER (About twice natural size)] [Illustration: _From a drawing by W. I. Beecroft_ _See page 270_ THE SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER Caterpillar, chrysalis and adult] =Juvenal's Dusky-wing= _Thanaos juvenalis_ There are few trees which have so interesting a set of insects attacking them as does the oak. It would be a simple matter to find abundant material for a large volume by making a study of the life-histories of the various insects that live upon or within the various tissues of this tree. The leaves alone provide a home for a remarkably large number of insect species scattered through a great many orders and families. The thickened blades seem to furnish an ideal opportunity for many larvae to get their living, and they are particularly useful to those which need to make a winter nest.