PAPILIONID.E. 335 



seldom sufficiently plentiful to do much damage. The chiysalides of 

 many of the species are protected by their coloring, some being brown 

 or gray and imitating bits of bark or decaj'ed wood, while others are 

 green, and when hidden among the leaves are very difficult to see. 



According to Mr. Henry Edwards, " Twenty species, or at least 

 strongly marked forms of true Papilio may be credited to the United 

 States." 



Pajnlio turnns is one of the largest and handsomest species of 

 this group found within the borders of our country. It is an abun- 

 dant insect over a large part of North America, but is replaced on 

 the Pacific Slope by two or three allied forms not very different in 

 size and coloring. 



Specimens of this species vary greatly in size, ranging all the way 

 from the small New England insects, frequently less than three and 

 one-half inches in expanse of wings, to the magnificent creatures seen 

 occasionally from southern Illinois southward, five and one-half or 

 even six inches across. These lai'ge insects are often truly grand in 

 coloring, and easily take a place among the princes of the butterfly 

 world. In New England the species makes its appearance frequently 

 as early as the middle of Ma}^ and is usually plentiful for three or 

 four weeks. Stragglers may occasionally be taken during the latter 

 part of summer and early in tlie fall, but the insect is single brooded, 

 except possibly in the southern part of its territory. 



When the foliage is fresh and green and the woods resound with 

 the songs of birds and the lium of insect life awakened from its 

 Avinter sleep, our beautiful tiger swallow-tail, as it is commonly called, 

 delights to congregate about sunny openings in the forest, chasing 

 each other high up among the oak leaves, or opening and shutting 

 its gaily tinted wings as it alights on the lower shubbery. The 

 butterflies are not very shy at these times, and one may quietly walk 

 into their chosen playground without disturbing them. They fre- 

 quently quit the forest in quest of sweets, and visit the cultivated 

 fields. The syringa is one of their favorite flowers, and so intent are 

 they on extracting the honey that one may frequent!}' capture tliem 

 with the fingers. With other species of butterflies they congregate 

 in great numbers on the mudd}- banks of streams or lakes or at wet 

 places in the roads, where one may take a dozen or more with one 

 sweep of the net. A friend of mine tells of seeing a patch of these 

 butterflies covering a space of several square feet, resting on the mud 

 near a lake in northern New Hampshire, where he has been accus- 



