A collection of prints of the butterflies of one's locality would be one of the most interesting photographic exhibits that an amateur could select. It is comparatively easy to get rather full sets showing the life-histories of several of our larger species and such sets are of course of especial interest. In the case of those caterpillars which make nests upon the food plant, like the Painted Beauty larva which remains for weeks feeding upon the leaves of the common wild everlasting, the taking of the pictures of the different stages is comparatively easy. One can keep the plant with the stem in water, and get the caterpillar to change to the chrysalis, and emerge as the butterfly, in the nest made from the flower heads and the upper leaves. [Illustration: _From a drawing by W. I. Beecroft_ _See page 59_ THE BLACK SWALLOWTAIL Caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly] [Illustration: Two hundred Monarchs resting on one dead limb] [Illustration: _Photographed by Craig S. Thomas_ _See pp. 16, 235_ "When a stick was thrown into the tree the air was full of Monarchs" A MIGRATION OF MONARCH BUTTERFLIES] [Illustration: _See page 45_ THE IMPROVED OPEN VIVARIUM] [Illustration: _From a photograph from life by A. H. Verrill._ _See page 14_ THE CYNTHIA MOTH AND THE COCOON FROM WHICH IT CAME] BUTTERFLY COLLECTIONS There are few groups in Nature which offer such advantages to the collector as that of the butterflies. They are easily obtained, easily preserved, and retain their beauty for a long period even under exposure to strong light. They offer opportunities for serious study in which one cannot only review the facts which others have already discovered, but also hope to contribute something of value to the sum of human knowledge.