1050 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



face of the fore wing of the males of a large number of Theclidi are well 

 known, but it has never been noted by any one except Fritz Miiller that this 

 patch of scales occasionally has an odor of greater or less distinctness. In 

 the allied group of Lycaenidi, the males of which possess scales of peculiar 

 battledore form scattered over the upper surface of the wings, we find in 

 one of our own species, Cyaniris pseudargiolus, an exceedingly delicate 

 odor, whicli I can only describe as that of newly stirred earth in the spring 

 or of crushed violet stems. 



Among the Pierinae, Miiller mentions several instances of odoriferous 

 scales, wliich in some instances are collected into patches and in others 

 not. Thus in Leptalis he finds on the portions of the front and hind wings 

 which conceal each other a patch of scales emitting an odor of greater or 

 less strength according to the species, an odor, he remarks, which is "dis- 

 agreeable to human noses." So, too, in the males of several species of 

 Callidryas he discovered in the patch of scales in the same position on the 

 hind wings a musk-like odor of varying degrees of strength according to 

 the species. He adds that our own Callidryas eubule emits a faint musk- 

 like odor, but this has been more carefully and independently determined 

 by Miss Murtfeldt of Missouri as a slight violet odor : she was unable, 

 however, to locate the spot from which the odor originated. Again, ac- 

 cording to Miiller, a "very delicious perfume" is produced on the upper side 

 of the wing of the male of the species of Mel etc already referred to, a 

 perfume which is rather faint but which may be rendered distinct by keep- 

 ing the animal alive with the wings closed, when the odor may be perceived 

 on opening them. Another instance in wliich two closely allied species may 

 vary in regard to their odor is foimd in our species of Pieris, the males of 

 Pieris rapae being only faintly odorous, while those of P. oleracea have a 

 more distinct but still faint odor of syringa blossoms ; so, too, P. napi of Eu- 

 rope is said by different writers, de Selys Longchamps, Perkins, Weismann, 

 to have the odor of thyme, verbena, orange or balsam. The only one of 

 our Papilioninae in ^vhicii there are any such scales pecvdiar to the male 

 sex is Laei'tias, which has the margin of the hind wings reflected, con- 

 cealing scales of a peculiar character ; I have never taken a living male, 

 and so have been unable to detect any odor there, but Edwards speaks 

 of the butterfly as having a strong and disagreeable smell which proba- 

 bly originates here ; for Miiller has found in other allied swallow-tails 

 odors which arise from exactly this source, the reflected margin being ex- 

 panded, he says, when the wings are moved strongly in a forward direc- 

 tion, and allowing the odor to escape. Indeed, Miiller asserts that in one 

 species there appear to be "two sets of males, emitting equally strong but 

 quite different odoi-s," a case which would be very similar to that of di- 

 morphism in color or markings, — diosmism we might call it. The odors 

 which he discovered from the different patches of this sort were in some 

 cases agreeable and in some disagreeable. 



