298 NOVITATES ZOOLOOIOAE XXVI. 1919. 



at large in the matto, managed somehow to break all her pinions to pieces in the 

 net before I could get her out. 



Returning to the Aristolochia Papilios and their mode and time of flight, 

 my experience, I believe, talUes with that of other observers, for I note that 

 these butterflies often fly higher in the morning than later in the day ; conse- 

 quently fewer are seen at that time, unless specially drawn to flowers, and they 

 are harder to catch. Probably from three to five in the afternoon is the time 

 when one is likely to meet with the greatest number, though it is true that I have 

 frequently made good captures earlier in the day. 



Another feature of note with the butterflies of this Division is their almost 

 total disregard at times for a wetting. The absence of sunshine and the approach 

 of a thunderstorm with fairly heavy rain already faUing seems to make no differ- 

 ence to them ; and except at intervals, when the rain is at its worst in drenching 

 torrents, seldom are such butterflies as the Aristolochia Papilios and HeUconias 

 sent to their homes, if bent on feeding. Under these exact conditions I have 

 repeatedly caught them, together with the dusk-loving CaUgos and a belated 

 Morpho, till half an hour before dark, 5.30 or 6 p.m. The comparative regularity 

 of the afternoon rains throughout the year, and the steady warm temperature 

 of the forest, even in its most shaded portions, are of course important factors 

 to remember when we contrast the state of things in Para with what we know 

 to prevail in Europe. 



Any one who has watched Papilios in their easy, graceful flight, circling 

 round the fragrant blossoms of some forest-tree like those mentioned, and then 

 noticed their change of demeanour when alarmed, with nervous alacrity and 

 quickened pace making straight for some dark recess among the thick under- 

 growth where it is impossible to follow, will come to the conclusion that butterflies 

 are not quite such foolish creatures as some people imagine, and that if there 

 is one thing to match the iridescence of their wings and the elegance of their 

 movements, it is their intelligence. 



When feeding in such positions they are frequently out of reach, and it is 

 sometimes worth the collector's time and patience to stop for an hour or two 

 beneath a single tree. I have met with success occasionally by affixing my net 

 to an inordinately long stick, and thus it was that I caught my first triopas and 

 both sexes of vertumnus, wheeling round the golden blossom of a Palicourea tree, 

 fully 15 or 20 feet above my head. Now and again, however, a butterfly will 

 swoop down to be taken at closer quarters, as it momentarily settles upon a cool 

 green leaf in the shade to digest its fill of nectar. On the other hand, I have never 

 observed any of the Aristolochia Papilios at puddles of water or sipping the 

 juices of less delectable substances, so pronounced a feature with the Kite Papilios 

 and Pieridae and other groups of butterflies and moths on the head-waters of 

 the Amazon in Peru. 



Passing on to the question of oviposition in the Aeneas and Lysander 

 groups, the eggs are laid singly, frequently on a fresh stem of the plant, sometimes 

 on the adjacent stalk of another plant or dry stick, but still oftener on the 

 under-surface of the tender leaves of the particular species of Aristolochia 

 preferred. 



This constitutes an ideal position for the young larva on emergence, for it 

 is on such leaves that it at first subsists, and under their shade that it secures 

 protection from sun and rain. As the larva advances, it consumes the crisper 



