BUTTERFLIES 
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(27) 
THE TURNUS SWALLOW-TAIL. 
(Papilio turnus Linn.). 
Among the numerous kinds of North American swallow- 
tailed butterflies few are as beautiful as this species, which 
leisurely sails through the warm air of June and July. It is 
not a common insect, excepting in the lake region of our 
State. Inthe northern part of Minnesota, but chiefly near 
Lake Vermillion, it occurs in countless numbers, and some- 
times the shores of the lake are simply lined with a broad 
band of these gaudy beings. They are attracted by all sorts 
of putrid matter, and a dead fish seems to possess special 
attractions. This butterfly is, with one exception, the 
largest swallow-tail found in Minnesota, and measures with 
expanded wings four inches and more. The wings in all our 
specimens area rich lemon-yellow, banded and bordered 
with black; on the fore-wings are four black bars, the inner 
one extending entirely across the wing, the outer ones be- 
coming shorter as they approach the apex. The front mar- 
gin is edged with black, and the outer-margin has a wide 
border of the same color, in which is a row of eight or nine 
spots, the lowest one being the smallest. The hind-wing is 
crossed with a tapering streak of black; there is also a wide 
black border enclosing lunar spots. Above and about these 
spots, and especially towards the inner angle of the wing, 
this border is thickly powdered with blue scales. The outer 
margin of the hind-wing is scalloped, and partly edged with 
yellow; the inner-margin is bordered with brownish-black 
for about two-thirds of its length, followed by a small yel- 
low patch, which is succeeded by a larger black spot, cen- 
tered wtthacrescent of blue atoms, and bounded below by an 
irregular reddish spot margined within with yellow. The 
hind-wings terminate in two long black tails, edged on the 
inside with yellow. The body is black above, margined with 
pale yellowish. The paler under-surface of the wings is 
similar to the upper one. 
