LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. =796= Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius Life Among the Butterflies Vance Randolph, B. Sc., A.M. Drawings by Peter Quinn HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY GIRARD, KANSAS Copyright, 1925, Haldeman-Julius Company. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LIFE AMONG THE BUTTERFLIES CONTENTS Chapter I. Books About Butterflies 7 Linnaeus--Clerck--Fabricius--Peter Cramer--Hübner--Smith and Abbot--Boisduval and LeConte--Harris--Morris--W. H. Edwards--S. H. Scudder--G. H. French--C. J. Maynard--W. J. Holland--William G. Wright--Longstaff--C. M. Weed. Chapter II. The Butterfly’s Body 12 The Head, Eyes, and Mouth Parts--The Thorax, Wings, and Legs--The Abdomen--The Digestive Apparatus--The Circulatory System--The Respiratory Tract--The Excretory Organs--The Nervous System--The Reproductive Organs. Chapter III. Butterfly Metamorphosis 19 The First Stage or Egg--The Second or Larval Stage--The Third or Pupal Stage--The Fourth Stage or Imago. Chapter IV. The Case of the Red Silverwing 23 Oviposition--The Egg--The Emergence of the Caterpillar--The Caterpillar--Moulting--Pupation--The Chrysalis--Pupal Movements--The Appearance of the Butterfly. Chapter V. The Classification of Butterflies 33 Subkingdoms, Classes, Orders and Suborders--The Four Families--Subfamilies, Genera, and Species--The Value of Scientific Nomenclature--Varieties. Chapter VI. The Four Families 38 The Four-footed Butterflies--The Euploeinae--The Heliconiinae--The Nymphalinae--The Satyrinae--The Libytheinae--The Gossamer-winged Butterflies--The Lycaeninae--The Swallowtails and their Allies--The Pierinae--The Papilioninae--The Skippers. Chapter VII. Enemies and Protection 55 Protective Coloration--Offensive Odors and Tastes--Warning Coloration--Protective Mimicry--Heliotropism and List--Feigning Death. LIFE AMONG THE BUTTERFLIES CHAPTER I BOOKS ABOUT BUTTERFLIES Many ancient and mediaeval writers dealt with butterflies, but the first descriptions of American species are found in the works of Linnaeus, the great Swedish naturalist who wrote about 1750, and invented the system upon which all modern classification is based. Pictures of several American butterflies were published in 1759 by Charles Clerck, who had studied with Linnaeus. Johann Christian Fabricius, a professor at the University of Kiel, published a few more descriptions in 1796, and Peter Cramer, at about the same time, brought out four large volumes on the butterflies of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Most of these early books were written in Latin, and are now so rare and expensive that few American students have ever seen them.