48 BUTTERFLIES 



after the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis when its 

 wings are fully developed but before the tissues have 

 hardened and the muscles in the thorax are strong enough 

 for flight. At this time the butterfly is perfect, every 

 scale is in its place and every spot of color is at its best, and 

 it will rest quietly upon a flower, leaf, or twig while you 

 adjust the camera and expose the plate. From one 

 such specimen one can get many pictures upon different 

 flowers and with different angles of view. {See plates, 

 pages 160, 225.) 



In order to make admirable photographs of living butter- 

 flies it is by no means necessary to have a regular photo- 

 graphic studio. If one has a room lighted from the north 

 or east one can arrange for exposure near the window, 

 using cardboard reflectors to make the light more even 

 from both sides. In such a situation one soon learns the 

 exposure periods required and can easily get many beauti- 

 ful photographs. 



A collection of prints of the butterflies of one's locality 

 would be one of th« most interesting photographic exhibits 

 that an amateur could select. It is comparatively easy to 

 get rather full sets showing the life-histories of several of 

 our larger species and such sets are of course of especial in- 

 terest. In the case of those caterpillars which make 

 nests upon the food plant, like the Painted Beauty larva 

 which remains for weeks feeding upon the leaves of the 

 common wild everlasting, the taking of the pictures of 

 the different stages is comparatively easy. One can 

 keep the plant with the stem in water, and get the 

 caterpillar to change to the chrysalis, and emerge as the 

 butterfly, in the nest made from the flower heads and the 

 upper leaves. 



