﻿A CALIFORNIA ORANGE DOG 



BY KARL R. COOLIDGE. 



Quite a few species of the lepidopterous genus Papilio (generally known 

 as swallow-tailed butterflies) are known to feed on, in their larval state, 

 and be destructive to citrus trees, /'. dcniolciis has at times jjlayed havoc 

 in the orange groves of Africa, and in India P. crithoiiius sometimes does 

 serious damage to the young budded trees. Another large and showy species, 

 P. erectheus, common in the warmer parts of Australia and Queensland, 

 is an enemy to the orange growers of those regions. In the United States, 

 P. cresphontes Cramer is notorious as an orange pest in the plantations of 

 Florida, where it is known as the "Orange Dog." P. paJamedcs Drury is also 

 a citrus feeder, but is not abundant enough to do damage to any extent. 



Other American Papilios are of some economic importance. P. tnrnus, 

 the common swallow tail of the East, which has a heterogeneous assortment 

 of food-plants, such as Vi'ild cherry {Cerasus), willow (Salix), camphor tree 

 (Camphora officinale), etc., occasionally damages various forest trees. Our 

 two west coast "tigers," P. nitiilus Boisd., and P. eiirymedon Boisd., are 

 rather restricted as to food-plants. The former feeds on Primus, Salix, Alnus 

 and Magnolia, while the only food-plant of the latter known to me is the 

 California Coffee berry, (Rhamnus calif ornica). P. philenor, which occurs 

 all over the United States but only sparsely in California, is one of the bug- 

 bears of house-wives, who have the Dutchmans-pipe vine (Aristolochia) 

 ornamenting their porches. P. astcrius, of the Atlantic States, is responsible 

 for considerable damage done to garden trucks, such as celery, parsnips and 

 parsley, which belong to the Uuibelliferac. upon which the members of the 

 astcrius group are almost wholly confined. It is rather surprising then to 

 find in California P. zclicayn Lucas, a near ally of astcrius. having for its 

 food-plant citrus trees. 



In May, 1909, I found Papilio zclicayn extremely abundant about Porter- 

 ville and Lindsay, in the San Joaquin valley, and observing by chance a female 

 ovipositing on the lower surface of an orange leaf, I was astonished to find on 

 practically every young tree either eggs or larvse. 



Zelica\n is a widely distributed butterfly along the west coast, flying 

 from Mexico to Alaska, and eastward to Montana and Coloifado. Its normal 

 food-plants are various species of Umbelliferae. About San Francisco the 

 most favored ones are Foeniculum vulgaris and Carum kclloggii. In that 

 region it appears to be two-brooded, but there is certainly as many as three 

 in the San Joaquin valley, the first appearing in February. It is not necessary 

 here to go into details of the life history, which Edwards (Butt., vol. 2, 1875: 

 vol. 3, 1891) and others have fully dealt with. The eggs are laid singly, 

 generally on the lower surface of the leaves, and I have seen as many as 

 seven placed on one tree by a single female. Thus a small colony of larva- 



