PAPILIONINAE : PAPILIO POLYXENES. 1363 



in a well cropped pasture. The wings are flapped up and down in regular 

 beats which are tolerably short, the extremes of upward and downward 

 motion forming only an angle of about 90". When alarmed, however, they 

 go at great speed, zigzagging rapidly, with occasional upward and down- 

 ward starts thrown in , kept up even when the pursuer or the moving object 

 which caused the fright may be far in the rear. Or, as De Garmo has said, 

 they will thou "make a detour, alighting briefly on some other flower or leaf, 

 and then almost invariably return to the one from which they were fright- 

 ened." Mr. D'Urban well remarks that polyxenes is "not so strong a flier" 

 as Jasoniades glaucus, and is much more easily captured. 



Miscellaneous. Dr. Packard made the experiment of removing the 

 antennae of this butterfly (Am. nat., xi : 420-421) : — 



It rtew irregularly to the floor, remainiug there; on opening the window it flew out 

 heavily, having evidently lost some of its powers of flight and of directing the move- 

 ments of its wings. It remained just where it had settled in the path from four p.m. 

 until nine o'clock the next morning. Then on putting it in a sunny place it disappeared 

 five minutes after, and must have become warmed and flown away. 



Mr. TJhler states that he has observed the union of this species and E. 

 glaucus when in close proximity to him ; and adds that Dr. Melsheimer 

 had several times observed the same phenomenon. No hybrids are known. 



Mr. Edwards possesses an hermaphrodite specimen, the right wings 

 male, the left female, distinctly marked upon both surfaces with no suffu- 

 sion of color. It was taken by ]\Ir. Meyer. 



Enemies. The caterpillar, and apparentlj^ that of the second brood in 

 particular, is attacked by Trogus exesorius Brulle (88:3) ; no one who has 

 attempted to rear this insect has failed to find it out. The parasites which 

 attack this second brood escape from the chrysalis in April or May of the 

 following year ; those which infest the first brood of caterpillars appear 

 again as images in August and September, escaping from chrysalids which 

 have hung from three to four weeks ; occasionally one of them may not 

 emerge until the succeeding spring ; they escape by cutting a large, nearly 

 circular hole through one of the wing-cases. Mr. Riley has also bred Trogus 

 obsidianator Brulle from a chrysalis found in AVashington and both he and 

 Mrs. Treat have obtained Apanteles lunatusfrom the caterpillar. Riley also 

 discovered an unknown hemipterous insect busily sucking the eggs of the 

 second brood. And finally, Dr. Hagen saw the large dragon fly, Anax 

 longipes, preying upon the buttei-flies in southern Massachusetts, catching 

 them and then settling on a shrub to behead and devour them. 



Desiderata. A description of the postures of the butterfly and the 

 determination of the duration of the egg in August are the principal lacunae 

 in our knowledge of this species in the north. Are the eggs generally laid 

 on the upper or under surfaces of leaves ? Are they ever naturally laid in 

 loose clusters ? Do the August chrysalids ever normally give birth to 



