THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 15. 



figures a species distinct from the others, and ninety-four of which are 

 accompanied by the early stages. Twenty-two of these are insects figured 

 in Abbot and Smith's work, but the figures of the early stages are in no 

 case identical ; they represent the same insect but in different attitudes. 

 Of these one hundred and thirty-three plates, thirty-four are concerned 

 with the butterflies. The drawings of butterflies in the British Museum 

 are contained in the sixth and sixteenth volumes, the former comprising 

 the perfect insects only, the latter the early stages as well, and in this 

 latter series thirty-six species are figured ; while the two Boston collec- 

 tions contain figures of the early stages of all but two of the species repre- 

 sented in the British Museum volume. Swainson states that a series of 

 one hundred and three subjects of Lepidoptera, including none published 

 before, was executed for him " with the intention of forming two additional 

 volumes to those edited by Dr. Smith, but the design is now abandoned." 



Each set of drawings furnished by Abbot seems to have been accom- 

 panied by more or less manuscript, in which the life history of the insect 

 is given in brief form, with the food plant of the caterpillar and the times 

 of the change of the caterpillars to chrysalids, and of chrysalids to butter- 

 flies, which shows that Abbot must have been an exceptionally industrious 

 rearer of insects. Indeed the transformations of not a few of our butter- 

 flies are even now known only through the observations and illustrations 

 of Abbot. Dr. Boisduval was good enough to present me with three 

 series of manuscript notes entitled " Notes to the Drawings of Insects," 

 all written in Abbot's own hand, and comprising twenty-seven foolscap 

 pages, rather closely written, and describing the changes of two hundred 

 and one species; of these thirty-eight are butterflies. These, unfortunately, 

 are referred to only by number and by an English name, which Abbot 

 himself applied, apparently to every insect of which he furnished drawings, 

 such as the " reed butterfly," the " ringed butterfly," the " lesser dingy 

 skipper," etc , though he occasionally makes use of such names as the 

 "autumnal ajax," " Papilio antiopa," etc., showing his familiarity to a 

 certain extent with Linnean names. As the names and drawings are in 

 some instances kept together, the manuscript of those in which they are 

 not connected is still of use. It appears that nearly all the Georgian 

 butterflies were observed and painted by Abbot, and that of about sixty 

 species which he raised he distributed illustrations and notes of the early 

 stages to some of his correspondents. 



