Books about North American Butterflies 



pursuance of an order of the legislature of Massachusetts, by 

 the Commissioners of the Zoological and Botanical Survey of the 

 State, was republished in 1842, and was followed by a third edi- 

 tion in 1852. The last edition, revised and improved by Charles 

 L. Flint, Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agricul- 

 ture, appeared in 1862. This work contains a number of figures 

 and descriptions of the butterflies of New England, and, while now 

 somewhat obsolete, still contains a great deal of valuable informa- 

 tion, and is well worth being rescued by the student from the 

 shelves of the second-hand book-stalls in which it is now and 

 then to be found. For the New England student of entomology 

 it remains to a greater or less extent a classic. 



In i860 the Smithsonian Institution published a "Catalogue 

 of the Described Lepidoptera of North America," a compilation 

 prepared by the Rev. John G. Morris. This work, though very far 

 from complete, contains in a compact form much valuable in- 

 formation, largely extracted from the writings of previous authors. 

 It is not illustrated. 



With the book prepared by Dr. Morris the first period in the 

 development of a literature relating to our subject may be said to 

 close, and the reader will observe that until the end of the sixth 

 decade of this century very little had been attempted in the way 

 of systematically naming, describing, and illustrating the riches 

 of the insect fauna of this continent. Almost all the work, with 

 the exception of that done by Harris, Leconte, and Morris, had 

 been done by European authors. 



Later Writers.— iKt the close of the Civil War this country 

 witnessed a great intellectual awakening, and every department 

 of science began 10 find its zealous students. In the annals of en- 

 tomology the year 1868 is memorable because of the issue of 

 the first part of the great work by William H. Edwards, entitled 

 " The Butterflies of North America." This work has been within 

 the last year (1897) brought to completion with the publication of 

 the third volume, and stands as a superb monument to the scien- 

 tific attainments and the inextinguishable industry of its learned 

 author. The three volumes are most superbly illustrated, and con- 

 tain a wealth of original drawings, representing all the stages in 

 the life-history of numerous species, which has never been sur- 

 passed. Unfortunately, while including a large number of the 

 species known to inhabit North America, the book is nevertheless 



71 



