50 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE 



refer to the numbers at the head of each specific descrip- 

 tion in the body of the work, the other numbers at the 

 right-hand side of the page refer to other parts of the key. 



NAMES OF BUTTEKFLIES. 



Few of our American butterflies have common names 

 that are generally recognized. The few that have com- 

 mon names are mostly such as have obtained them by 

 reason of their being injurious insects, such as the Rape 

 or European Cabbage Butterfly, etc. For this reason 

 only the scientific names are used in this work. If it 

 is desirable to use a common name, the specific name 

 can be used as such ; indeed, this has for some time been 

 the custom in many localities. For instance, Papilio 

 Asterias is spoken of as the Asterias butterfly, P. Ajax 

 as the Ajax butterfly, etc. Pieris Rapce, because of its 

 being brought to this country from Europe, is usually 

 called the European Cabbage butterfly, though it is often 

 called the Rape butterfly. 



The scientific names are, like the scientific names of 

 other groups of natural objects, Latin words, and as 

 such are subject to the rules of that language in pronun- 

 ciation. By observing the place of accent as given in 

 the following list, and remembering that, with few ex- 

 ceptions, in Latin each vowel makes a syllable, little 

 difficulty need be experienced in pronunciation. To 

 those who are classical scholars no such suggestions are 

 necessary. 



The scientific name consists of two words, the first the 

 generic name, or the name of the genus. This has nearly 

 its parallel in the last word of a man's name. The second 

 is the specific name, or that which is used to identify the 



