USTTEODUOTIOK 



THIS little work treats of butterflies the higher 

 families of the great order Lepidoptera, or scaly- 

 winged insects. They do not form a scientifically 

 natural group, since their sole distinction from 

 other Lepidoptera lies in the character of the 

 antennae ; and this itself is a point of great vari- 

 ability ; but for convenience' sake, and with this 

 reservation, we may use the term butterfly as a 

 popular expression. 



The foundation of our study will be laid upon 

 an examination of the earlier stages of the butter- 

 fly. Ruskin has declared* that the prevalent 

 " instinct for the study of ... the lower 

 forms of undeveloped creatures ... is the 

 precise counterpart of the forms of idolatry (ex- 

 pressed in the worship of unclean beasts), which 

 were in great part the cause of final corruption in 

 ancient mythology and morals." Yet not only 

 shall we find in these lower stages forms of ex- 

 quisite beauty, little known even to the world of 



* Fors Clavigera, Letter 53, pp. 138, 139, note. 



