ance, habits, localities, &c. of _all
our British Butterflies_, together with a general history of butterfly
life--the mode of capture, preservation, and arrangement in cabinets--the
apparatus required, &c. At the same time it is so inexpensive as to be
accessible to every schoolboy.

The subject is one which has formed the delight and study of the author
from early boyhood, and butterfly-hunting still preserves its fascinations,
redoubling the pleasure of the country ramble in summer. {vi}

Should this volume be the means of inciting some to seek this source of
healthful enjoyment, and to join in the peaceful study which may be so
easily pursued by all dwellers in the country, it will have succeeded in
its purpose.

The whole of the illustrative portraits of the _butterflies_ have been
drawn from nature by the author, and with one exception from specimens in
his own collection. At least one figure of each species (of the natural
size) is given; but in very many instances, where the sexes differ
considerably from each other, both are figured, and the under sides are
also frequently added.

The greater number of the _caterpillars_ and _chrysalides_, however, being
rarely met with, the figures on the first plate are nearly all borrowed
from the splendid and accurate works of Continental authors--chiefly from
Huebner and Duponchel.

With great pleasure, the author here acknowledges his obligations, for many
biographical facts relating to butterflies, to those highly useful
periodicals, the _Zoologist_ and the _Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer_,
the former devoted to general natural history, the latter especially to
entomology, and whose pages register a {vii} mass of interesting and
original communications from correspondents who, living in wide-spread
localities, and possessing varied opportunities of observation, have
gradually brought together, under able editorship, a store of facts that
could never have come within the _personal_ experience of any one man,
however industrious and observant.

The capture during the past year of a new and interesting butterfly for the
first time in this country, is recorded in this volume, in which the insect
is also figured and described.

BAYSWATER, _April 1860_.

* * * * *

{1}

BRITISH BUTTERFLIES.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

WHAT IS A BUTTERFLY--BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS--BUTTERFLY LIFE--THE EGG
STAGE--SCULPTURED CRADLES--BU