1881.] 29 



LIST OF LEPIBOPTERA OBSEKVED IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD 



OF G-ALLIPOLI, TURKEY, IN 1878. 



BY GERVASE F. MATHEW, R.N., F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



{continued from page 13.) 



RHOPALOCERA. 



Papilio Podalirius, L. — Tolerably common. The first specimens were observed 

 the 18th May, flying about gardens at Bulair, and occasionally settling on the flowers 

 of a small umbelliferous plant. At Port Baklar, about two miles from Bulair, it 

 was noticed by Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., of H.M.S. " Swiftsure," as early as 16th 

 April. A female was one day seen depositing her eggs on a stunted sloe bush 

 growing in a wild spot far away in the country, but they were usually to be found 

 near gardens. In a waste piece of ground, just outside Grallipoli, a great quantity of 

 scabious was in flower in August, and here Podalirius assembled in goodly numbers, 

 and was easy to capture. It is not as strong on the wing as Machaon. 



Papilio Machaon, L. — Common. A very worn individual observed on the 6th 

 June, but it must have been out long before this date, for Mr. Walker noticed it at 

 Port Baklar on 21st April. A fresh brood made their appearance on 23rd June, and 

 there appeared to be a succession of broods up to the end of October, as larvae of 

 all sizes were noticed from end of June to 19th November. On 7th November a 

 single larva was discovered, feeding on a particularly disagreeable smelling species 

 of Euphorbia. 



Thais cerisyi, B.* — Perfect insect not seen, but the larvae were by no means 

 uncommon. They are soft and flabby to the touch, sluggish in their movements, 

 and semigregarious in their habits, many being found on the same plant. When 

 not feeding they rested on the under-side of a leaf, on the mid-rib. They did not 

 seem to be attacked either by birds or ichneumons. Their food-plant (Aristolochia), 

 which has a peculiar and very pungent smell, was extremely local, only occurring in 

 small quantities in one or two places on the sandhills, to the northward of the 

 Bulair lines. 



The following is a description of the full grown larva. Length, 1 in. 5 lin. to 1 in. 

 7 lin. Cylindrical, tapering towards anal extremity ; ground colour canary or lemon- 

 yellow, sometimes faintly suffused with pink ; dorsal stripe rather broad, deep lead 

 colour, enclosing a linear-shaped black spot towards the anterior part of each segment ; 

 a subdorsal dusky streak, enclosing a triangular blotch of a deeper hue, on each seg- 

 ment ; a small dusky blotch above each clasper ; spiracles minute, black, encircled 

 by a pale ring ; a subdorsal row of pink fleshy spines, the spines slightly covered 

 with fine pale yellow bristles ; a spiracular double row of similar spines, the upper 

 series seated upon a loose skinfold, and all the spines are faintly tipped with black ; 

 under surface and claspers same as above ; legs dusky ; head Slightly retractile, with 

 an oval, ocellated, dusky spot on each side of face, and a triangular-shaped black 

 spot on lower lip. A common variety of this larva was altogether lemon-yellow, 

 with no perceptible dorsal stripe, but two minute black dots on each side of the 



* In Mr. Walker's " Notes on the Butterflies of Port Baklar, Turkey" (Ent. Mo. Mag., Feb., 

 1879, p. 194), he says that I found the larvae of Thais Polyxena " commonly at the end of June, on 

 the Marmora side of the isthmus." This was an error on my part, for when I took the larvae I 

 thought they were Polyxena, and only discovered my mistake when the perfect insect appeared 

 in April, 1879. I never saw Polyxena. 



