PAPILIONIXAE: EUPIIOEADES TROILUS. 1325 



wrinkled <im] liloatcd, and altJioiif:;li tlie whole process of escape lasts little 

 nu)re than iialf a nunute, arc already twice tlie size of the sheaths they 

 lately occupied ; the under side of the first abdominal segment is swollen 

 with the fluids whicli are destined to force tlie expansion of the wings, for 

 by the time these have assumed their natural size the sejjmcnt is no longer 

 inHated. The insect crawls upward until it finds a secure resting place 

 and there remains until readv for fliirlit : eacii half of the tonjjue, drawn 

 indejiendently from its receptaele. is rolled in a separate spiral, and now 

 wiiile tiie wings are gradually expanding tiie insect ap])lies all its energies 

 to uniting their two parts, incessantly rolls and unrolls them, and begin- 

 ning simultaneously at the base, gradually fits them together ; in about 

 fifteen minutes all but the tips arc perfectly united ; these require nearly 

 fifteen minutes more, and are not fairly interlocked until the wings are 

 fully expanded, nearly a full half hour after the escape from the chrysalis. 

 The wings, however, are still tender and generally requii'e two hours to 

 stiffen. When at last the insect ventures upon flight it is not with an 

 uncertain flutter, but boldly and steadily, as if long accustomed to the 

 action. But first a fluid is dropped, as in all butterflies, from the hinder 

 end of the body, which in the male is pellucid but in the female straw- 

 colored and granular. 



Life history. The insect is double brooded throughout its range and 

 passes the winter in the chrysalis state. The earliest buttei^lies appear in 

 the south in the first half of March, in the north in the latter half of May ; 

 the female appears a week later than the male and butterflies continue to 

 emerge from the chrysalis all through Jime and are seen far into July. 

 The eggs are laid early in June, the caterpillar passes about a week in each 

 stage (a month for all in Florida) and changes to chrysalis by the middle 

 of July at the earliest, or in the south in the latter part of June ; it con- 

 tinues a fortnight or more in this condition and a second brood of butter- 

 flies appears, in the south in July, in the north seldom before the middle 

 of August, but sometimes at the very end of July ; it becomes abundant 

 in the latter part of August ; the full grown larva of this brood may be 

 found from the first week of September or even earlier until the middle of 

 October, when it changes to chrysalis and thus hibernates. 



Flight, postures and habits. Its flight is easy and graceful, gener- 

 ally only a few feet above the ground as it courses rather swiftly above 

 the bushes, dropping constantly here and there and pausing in its onward 

 flight to examine every little nook for the flower or plant it seeks ; rarely 

 alighting, it seems never weary and passes back and forth in long zigzags 

 across a field with constant revisitations of the same spots. 



Speaking of both this species and glaucus, De Garmo says : — "When 

 rudely disturbed by a stroke of the net [they] rise high in the air, and 

 immediately seek another resting place, even when on their choicest feed- 

 ing grounds" (Trans. Yass. br. inst., ii : 130). 



