MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



501 



pillar feeds on umbelliferous plants, and at one time it was rather abundant in the fens 

 of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, England ; but, from the drainage of those 

 districts, it lias there become quite rare. A modified form of the species has been 

 taken in Alaska and British Columbia, and is known as P. aliaska. P. podalirius is 

 chiefly found in the warmer parts of France. P. alexanor has its home about the 

 lower Alps, and P. hospiton, by far the rarest of the four species, is only taken in the 

 islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The prevailing colors of the European species are 



FIG. 627. a, Leptocircus curius. b, Ornithoptera amphrysus, larva and chrysalis. 



shades of pale yellow with black markings. Up to this time over three hundred and 

 fifty species of the genus Papilio are known. 



By almost common consent, at the head of the Papilioninae are placed the glorious 

 Ornithoptera of the tropics, and from their size and beauty they well deserve this 

 position. But it should be stated that in the chrysalis state these magnificent insects 

 unite the characters of the Suspensi and Succincti, not only binding a thread partially 

 around the body, but also suspending themselves by the tail, thus evidencing a slight 

 approach to the Nymphalidae, another proof, if it were necessary, that the objects 

 of creation can by no means be arranged in straight lines. This habit of the chrysalis, 



