Chapter II: Preface

The favourable reception with which the 'Out-door World' has been greeted has encouraged the publishers to issue a series of volumes dealing in fuller detail with the various branches of Natural History treated of in that work. Necessarily each subject was only briefly touched upon, but the study is of so enticing a character that 'appetite grows by feeding,' and the students of the 'Out-door World,' having tasted the sweetness of companionship with Nature, will not rest satisfied with the help afforded by that handbook. Each one will want to go deeper into that particular department which most appeals to his own inclinations.

The present volume is written expressly for those who desire to extend their knowledge of the British Lepidoptera, or, to use the more popular names, 'Butterflies and Moths.'

The general characteristics of this interesting order of insects are described somewhat fully, but, of course, it would be impossible to give an individual account of all the British Lepidoptera in a work of this size, so a selection has been made such as will satisfy the requirements of the great majority of those who intend to take up this particular branch of entomology. The number of British Butterflies, however, is so limited that a place has been found for a figure and a description of every species; and, of the larger moths, many of the common and typical kinds have been included. An introduction to the study of the Micro-lepidoptera has also been added.

No trouble has been spared to render this work thoroughly practical. In addition to the verbal descriptions of so many species, twelve coloured plates and a large number of woodcuts have been specially prepared to help the student in his work. It is believed that the extreme care with which these have been produced will render them of the greatest assistance to the collector in the recognition of his specimens.

But he has not only to recognise his specimens--he must first catch them; and here full directions have been given to insure success in this part of his work, as well as in the management, preservation, and arrangement of his captures.

The Author hopes that this volume may be the means of adding many happy hours--hours of the purest enjoyment--to the lives of those whom he has succeeded in luring into the fields and lanes and woods of the Out-door World.

CONTENTS

PART I

_STRUCTURE AND LIFE HISTORY OF THE LEPIDOPTERA_

CHAP. PAGE

I. GENERAL CHARACTERS 1

II. THE EGG 16

III. THE LARVA 22

IV. THE PUPA OR CHRYSALIS 40

V. CLASSIFICATION OF THE LEPIDOPTERA 55

PART II

_WORK AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD_

VI. CATCHING BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 63

VII. COLLECTING OVA, LARVAE, AND PUPAE 98

VIII. REARING LEPIDOPTERA 112

IX. SETTING AND PRESERVING 122

X. PRESERVING OVA, LARVAE AND PUPAE 130

XI. THE CABINET--ARRANGEMENT OF SPECIMENS 134

PART III

_BRITISH BUTTERFLIES_

XII. THE SWALLOW-TAIL AND THE 'WHITES' 139

XIII. THE FRITILLARIES, VANESSAS, AND THE PURPLE EMPEROR 154

XIV. THE BROWNS AND HEATHS 173

XV. THE HAIRSTREAKS, COPPERS AND BLUES 183

XVI. THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE SKIPPERS 196