It's a female tiger swallowtail, yellow form. There's also a black form female - they're more common than the yellow females in my area. Congrats! She's quite a beauty! MissSherry

That's a tiger swallowtail about to pupate, Michael. Please give him/her a safe place to do so! Sherry

Leslie, those red spotted purples are something else, aren't they? I had one hanging out on my front hedge earlier this summer and I took a bunch of pictures of it. Lisa Here is a link that might be useful: Lisa's Butterflies

There are lots of good field guides out there jlk, but one of my favorite and most used butterfly ID books is one titled "The Life Cycles of Butterflies: From Egg to Maturity, a Visual Guide to 23 Common Garden Butterflies." It is a VERY good reference for someone who is learning to ID the butterflies. The photos are wonderful, and there is a lot of good info there. It can be had at Amazon for about $13, but you may find it for even less elsewhere if you look. The authors of this book also have a website which is nice. You can see it here: http://www.butterflynature.com/butterflies.html My advice is to read as much as you can from many different places and look at loads of pics. I would be happy to send some nice sites to you if you'd like. Just drop an e-mail to me. :o)