12mo. [2], 177pp, [1]. With an engraved frontispiece, a further two engraved plates, and a final page of publisher's advertisements. Original publisher's red roan-backed marbled boards,, ruled and lettered in gilt. Rubbed, chipping to foot of spine. Later bookplate of S. & E. S. Taylor to FEP, early inked ownership inscription of Anne Thompson to FFEP, final gathering protruding from text-block, foxed.

A variant, in original state, of the first edition of a collection of fugitive juvenile tales by prolific Darton author Mary Elliott's (née Belson) (c.1794-1870). Notwithstanding the taxonomic title, the book is not a study of natural history, rather the author employs the butterfly as a prop to connect a series of stories in which the morality of children are tested. Four variants of the 1819 edition were issued, each with the title page reset; no firm priority has been established. The usual databases provide scant information allowing for identification of which variant is held by the various institutions recorded, making the scarcity of individual settings difficult to ascertain; however copies of the 1819 edition are fairly well represented, attesting to the popularity of the work, and indeed the initial need to publish four issues within the first year of appearance.