192 BULLETIN 15 7, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In contrast to our other common local swallowtails, the parsnip 

 swallowtail is a butterfly of open country and does not enter woods. 

 It is particularly common in fields and meadows with an abundance 

 of wild carrots on which chiefly in this region its caterpillars feed, 

 and is always to be found about farms and gardens where parsley, 

 carrots, parsnips, or celery are grown. 



Habits. — The parsnip swallowtail is a butterfly of rapid and irregu- 

 lar flight, always keeping near the ground and seldom rising more 

 than a foot or so above the grass tops. It often doubles on its course, 

 and it pauses frequently to sip the nectar from a clover or a thistle 

 blossom, which usually it does, particularly the male, without abating 

 the nervous motion of its wings. When alarmed it dashes away 

 wildly at great speed, darting from side to side and up and down, 

 though scarcely rising above its usual level. Generally speaking the 

 actions of the parsnip swallowtail resemble more nearly the actions 

 of a large open country pierid than they do the actions of our other 

 swallowtails. 



The males are fond of resting on the summit of a tall weed with 

 their wings extended horizontally and the fore wings drawn well 

 back. When thus engaged they are always alert, seldom allowing 

 one to approach closer than 6 or 8 feet. 



Small hills or elevations with barren or rocky summits, especially 

 if they be capped by a few trees, have an irresistible attraction for 

 this butterfly. Here it loves to congregate and play about. Here it 

 usually flies higher than is its habit when coursing over open country, 

 and here its flight is less irregular. Where there are no hills it flies 

 in the same way about isolated groves of trees, or along the borders 

 of woods, or over barren areas, passing swiftly back and forth from 

 3 to 5 feet above the ground. It seems to mate chiefly or solely in 

 these regions, seldom or never in the open fields. 



Sometimes over a hilltop a pair of these butterflies may be seen 

 fluttering about each other quite after the fashion of the yellow clover 

 butterfly {C olios philodice)^ slowly rising upward. In this fashion 

 I have seen them rise to a height of more than 50 feet before 

 descending. 



In rolling country the males are always much more numerous than 

 the females in the higher regions, while in the lower the females 

 are relatively more abundant. 



The parsnip swallowtail is very fond of flowers, and is a very 

 common visitor to clover fields and gardens. In gardens it some- 

 times proves a nuisance, as was shown some years ago when com- 

 plaint was made to the Department of Agriculture that verbenas 

 were being ruined by these butterflies pulling them all to pieces 

 when they withdrew their tongues. 



