PREFACE 



RECENT advances in the arts make it possible to illustrate books at much less 

 cost than formerly. An important invention is the process of printing in three 

 colors from half-tone plates. The author of this manual was one of the first to use 

 this process in illustrating a work upon the lepidoptera. When "The Butterfly 

 Book" appeared he received letters from many scientific friends expressing their 

 wonder. Among those who wrote to him was Dr. Samuel Hubbard Scudder, the 

 Nestor among American lepidopterists, who has since passed away. He said: "I 

 am simply astonished at the fidelity to nature displayed by the plates in your book, 

 and at the low price at which the new process permits it to be sold." 



That "The Butterfly Book" met a real need is shown by the fact that more 

 than thirty thousand copies have already found purchasers. It is, however, a 

 biggish book. The publishers, Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Co., have asked me to 

 get up a little pocket manual of the butterflies, similar in form to the "Flower 

 Guide," which has been most cordially received by the public. I have therefore 

 prepared the following pages, to which in the gracious phrase of our forefathers I 

 now "invite the attention of the gentle reader." 



There are more than six hundred species of butterflies found in North America, 



