4 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



ON REARING PAPILIO MACHAON. 

 By E. E. Bentall, F.E.S. 



1910. Early iu the year I purchased some Continental 

 Papilio machaon pupte to try a breeding experiment in my 

 butterfly-hoose, which is a long greenhouse-like building covered 

 partly with glass and partly with perforated zinc arranged iu 

 alternate squares, so that air and rain should have free access. 



The house was planted with food-plants for larvae and with 

 flowering plants for butterflies. 



The butterflies, having paired, commenced to lay early in 

 June. 



On June 15th, having found that the young larvae which had 

 hatched were being eaten by small spiders, I collected thirty- 

 three that day and put them in leno-covered cages to protect 

 them. I see by my notes that I found three hundred and 

 fourteen between June 13th and July 5th. The whole of this 

 first brood of larvae were successfully reared, and in due time 

 imagines emerged, some to be transferred to the butterfly-house 

 and others were set free in the garden. 



Those in the house paired and laid a quantity of ova, from 

 which larvae hatched and were brought up in cages as before. 

 This second brood of larvao commenced suspending on September 

 9th, and the whole of the pupae hybernated with practically no loss. 



1911. P. machaon commenced to emerge on May 12th, and 

 were mostly males, but by May 21th chiefly females emerged. 

 Many were let out into the garden. Of those retained in the 

 house I put Continental males and females in one division of 

 the house, and in another division I placed some English 

 females and some Continental males. I wished to see whether 

 they would pair as freely as the Continental of both sexes do. 

 I found they were quite as ready to do so. In the compartment 

 reserved for the mixed breed I had planted Peiicedanum paliistre, 

 Daucus carota, Skimmia japonica, and the common garden fennel. 



On May 25th I found my English females had commenced 

 to lay eggs, and had selected iu the first instance the Peiice- 

 danum and the Skimmia, but the next day they were laying on 

 fennel. In the compartment for the all Continental the food- 

 plants were Skimmia, parsnip, parsley, and fennel, and, although 

 I searched carefully, no eggs were found on anything but fennel, 

 but on that there were a very large number. 



I let out into the garden about two hundred and fifty 

 machaon. Those in the garden paired freely, and while some 

 remained flying about the open over the rough grasses, the 

 majority evidently dispersed. From reports in the Entomo- 

 logical Press and from private information these machaon must 

 have distributed themselves over a wide area in all directions. 



