INTRODUCTION. 3 



seasons, and follow the varied histories of our 

 friends at different epochs of the year ; inspect 

 their habitations, and see what preparation they 

 make for the long repose of winter. We shall 

 devote much space to their coloring, not to dilate 

 upon its exquisite delicacy or wonderful play, 

 but to study the curious laws by which it varies 

 in the same species at different seasons, or in dif- 

 ferent latitudes ; by which each sex, after its 

 own fashion, vies with the other in adornment ; 

 and by which new forms are apparently originat- 

 ing under our very eyes. Finally, we shall treat 

 of the ancestry, present* affinities, and distribu- 

 tion of these insects ;' endeavor to discover what 

 the primeval butterfly was like, what sort of #n 

 egg it laid, what the cycle of its changes, and how 

 we should arrange the living forms ; all these 

 topics we shall illustrate by almost exclusive 

 reference to the butterflies of America, and 

 especially of our own New England, and close by 

 showing how New England was colonized with 

 its present butterfly inhabitants. 



