PAPILIO III., IV., V. 



silk which it spins for the purpose, and going to the edges to feed when disposed. 

 As it increases in size, the leaf is somewhat drawn together, so that on the large 

 leaves of the tulip tree it is not difficult to discover one of these larvae. It is slug- 

 gish in habit, usually moving only when impelled by hunger. When full grown 

 it stops feeding, and in course of about thirty-six hours changes color completely 

 from green to brown, and at this stage deserts its tree and often travels, and 

 that with considerable I'apidity, many yards or rods until it finds a suitable 

 place for its protection while in chrysalis. The butterfly emerges, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Coalburgh, early in April, or if the weather has been favorable, in 

 March, sometimes as early as the fifteenth day of that month. In Maine, Mr. 

 Scudder says, it appears about the first of June. In Ontario, its time is the last 

 of May. At Coalburgh, the males are to be seen, on any warm day of spring, 

 gathered in groups of from half a dozen to fift}-, by the edge of the water, in 

 company with Papilios Ajax, Philenor, and later, Troilus. The females are not 

 found in such situations, but they frequent the fruit trees then in bloom (as do 

 the males in some degree), peach, apple, and above all the wild plum. Later in 

 the season, both sexes abound on the red clover, then on the Asclepiades and 

 thistles, and finally, at the close of the season, on the iron-weed, Vernonia. In 

 the garden they delight in the lilacs, phloxes, and zinnias. Another plant, Cat- 

 ananche bicolor, with its tall mullein-like flower stalks, is also very attractive to 

 Turnus. 



On the wing the males are swift, and when alarmed, soar high in air or among 

 the trees ; but when settled in groups by the water, or feeding on flowers, they 

 are fearless, and may be captured with the utmost ease. Mr. Scudder mentions 

 the fact of sixty-nine Turnus being caught between the hands at one grasp. In 

 the " Canadian Entomologist," V. p. 19, Mr. Couper relates as follows : '•' I passed 

 two months of the summer of 1871 on the Black Eiver, about one hundred and 

 forty miles north of Montreal, residing in a shanty on the road which follows the 

 river through the mountains. Water in which pork had been parboiled was 

 thrown out on the sandy lawn opposite the door, and I noticed that hundreds of 

 Turnus frequented this spot during favorable weather, thrusting their tongues 

 into the moistened sand, when the fluid absorbed, for which they seemed to have 

 such an extraordinary liking, rendered them semi-intoxicated. I have seen 

 them flying from all quarters direct for the shanty. Many of them, I believe, 

 came from a distance of two miles at least." 



The species of Papilio are subject to this sort of intoxication. There is a large 

 patch of Asclepias purpurascens growing near my house, and all day long the 

 flowers are thronged with butterflies, the Papilios especially abounding ; and 

 many may be seen hanging motionless and for a long time, with heads and 



