FRAGRANT BUTTERFLIES—CLARK 433 
Nymphalids.—About 30 years ago I was much surprised to find 
that a strong and pleasant fragrance comparable to that of sweet 
flag or of sandalwood combined with Spanish cedar and with a 
“dusty” element was given off from the wings of a male example 
of one of our common fritillaries (Argynnis aphrodite). More 
recently [ have examined this peculiarity more closely. Of the males 
of both of our common species in New England (A. aphrodite and 
A. cybele) some dozens were examined. All had the odor, and on the 
average about one in four or five was found to possess a very strong 
aroma. In several cases so fragrant was the butterfly that the odor 
could plainly be detected as the insect fluttered in the net. Some of 
the most fragrant of the butterflies were badly rubbed and torn, 
while some freshly emerged were almost scentless. 
Mr. Scudder remarked that Argynnis atlantis (figs. 57, 58, pl. 13) 
has a distinct odor of sandalwood so strong that it is hardly possible 
to handle living specimens without recognizing it, which he has 
known to be retained for many weeks after death when the insect 
had been inclosed at capture in a paper envelope. 
In the regal fritillary (Argynnis idalia, fig. 59, pl. 18) the odor 
of the male is uniformly strong, resembling that of the other species 
but sweeter and more flowery. It was compared to musk by Mr. 
Scudder. 
Prof. John H. Gerould writes me that he has noticed the same 
odor as that in A. atlantis in another species (Brenthis montinus) 
which I have not examined. 
Of a curious fritillary common in the Southern States (Déone 
vanille) Mr. Longstaff says that 13 out of 17 males examined 
possessed an odor varying from very faint to very strong which in 
character was distinctly disagreeable—like a stable. 
The majority of observations made by Mr. Longstaff on our south- 
ern heliconian .(Heliconius charithonia) in 1907 in Jamaica gave 
negative results, but in three males and two females a slight pleasant 
flowery scent was detected which Mrs. Longstaff described as 
“ sweet.” 
The large and handsome Victorina stelenes, occasional in Florida 
and in southern Texas, was studied by Mr. Longstaff in Jamaica. 
Five males appeared to have a, slight flowery scent; in one it sug- 
gested chrysanthemum. 
The handsome male of Hypolimnas misippus, abundant in the 
eastern tropics and in Africa, and occurring sparingly in Florida 
and southward where long ago it was introduced from Africa, was 
found by Doctor Dixey from observations in South Africa to have a 
smell like coffee, though not very strong. 
In our common viceroy (Basilarchia archippus) there is a pro- 
nounced and disagreeable odor comparable to that of the females of 
