V. 



THE NAMES OF BUTTERFLIES 



When in the preparation of my " Butterflies of 

 the Eastern United States and Canada " I found 

 myself compelled by my study of the fauna to 

 make use of a scientific terminology very different 

 from that then in ordinary use, it seemed as if it 

 mioht be desirable that at least our commoner 

 species should have English names, which might 

 in time become settled and then endure through 

 all possible variations of scientific terminology. I 

 noticed that in all the popular British works upon 

 butterflies, an English name was almost invariably 

 given, and that the names adopted by different 

 authors did not always agree. It appeared, there- 

 fore, to be probable that many of them were man- 

 ufactured for the occasion. Some were extremely 

 pretty, others appeared forced. I had noticed, 

 further, that for the similar convenience of agricul- 

 turists an English name, often bungling and diffi- 

 cult to remember, a translation perhaps of an awk- 



