Pyrameis Atalanta,, or Admiral ; a, Caterpillar, &, Chrysalis, and c, perfect Butterfly. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



WHEN I -was a very little boy indeed I will 

 not say how long ago I loved butterflies 

 much better than books, and the teachings of 

 Nature much better than the teachings of 

 governesses, and I recollect, as well as if it 

 were yesterday, the first butterfly I ever saw : 

 it was sitting on a leaf, and I called out, "Oh, 

 look what a beautiful flower!" and T tried to 

 pick it, but away it flew ; and I recollect that 

 I cried out, " The beautiful flower has flown 

 away." How lasting are early impressions ! 

 I have never forgotten that butterfly, and to 

 this hour I cannot disconnect the idea of a 

 butterfly and a flying flower. It was not, 

 however, until I was about twelve years of 

 age that I began seriously to think of writing 

 a " History of Butterflies," which project was 

 carried out someyear or so afterwards, and the 

 manuscript still exists. When, after the lapse 

 of nearly half a century, I was requested to 

 do the same thing for publication, all the 

 names on which I had once doated, Equites, 

 Achivi, Parnassii, Danai, Nympkales, and 



Plebeii, were either absolutely forgotten, or 

 were curiously examined as though they were 

 the fossil remains of some unknown world 

 more wonderful than this, the Greeks had be- 

 come the wives of the Trojans, and, instead of 

 contending with spears and swords, had settled 

 their differences, and were ranged side by side 

 in the drawers of every museum. A new ar- 

 rangement and new views had superseded the 

 old ones, and all my puerile labours had been 

 rendered valueless ; but I well recollect that 

 Robert Southey, having been reproached with 

 early writings, at variance with those of his 

 more advanced years, bravely said, "I am no 

 more ashamed of those writings than I am of 

 having been a boy," and I fully enter into his 

 feeling, and am no more ashamed of my first 

 "History of Butterflies," than I am of having 

 once been but twelve years of age. Neither 

 can I imagine that we are even now approach- 

 ing perfection, butquite anticipate thatanother 

 generation will look down on my "Detegentes? 

 "Celantes," "Suspensi" and " 



