THE SWALLOW-TAILED GROUP 



3053 



have the upper side of the wings in the male sex of various shades of blue; those of 

 the female, on the other hand, being usually brown, shot with a bluish or purple 

 tinge. The larvae are wood louse shaped, and feed mainly on grasses of various 

 kinds. The common blue (L. alexis) is one of the most abundant of British butter- 

 flies, whose white-fringed, pale blue upper side and speckled under side, in the 

 male, are familiar to everyone. The male is figured on the top right corner of the 

 colored plate. Of the many blues found in England, such as the silver stud, the 

 chalk hill, the holly blue, and the little or Bedford blue, the Clifdenblue (L. adonis) 

 the azure blue of many authors is the most beautiful. It occurs not infre- 

 quently, though locally, upon the Chalk downs of the southern coasts, and in some 

 other localities. A figure of the male is given in the illustration on p. 3051. The 

 wings are of a much brighter blue than those of L. alexis. 



THE SWALLOW-TAILED GROUP Family PAPILIONID^E 



This immense family includes the giant Ornithoptera , or bird-winged butter- 

 flies of the Tropics, the swallowtails, Apollo butterflies, whites, brimstones, and 

 many others. As has been mentioned 

 this family and the next are charac- 

 terized by the possession of six perfect 

 legs in both sexes. The chrysalids 

 of the present family are suspended 

 by the tail and girdled with a thread 

 of silk. The largest of the butter- 

 flies (Ornithoptera) belonging to this 

 family measure nearly a foot across 

 the expanded wings. The typi- 

 cal members of the family are 

 the swallowtails {Papilionina) , 

 which are large butterflies charac- 

 terized generally by the presence of 

 a long tail-like process to the hind- 

 wings. Occasionally, however, as 

 in the female of Papiliomerope , 

 these appendages are wanting. 

 The two uppermost figures of the 

 illustration on p. 3052 exhibit the 

 scarce swallowtail (P. podalirius), 

 which is a large, strong insect with 

 triangular front wings, and a long 

 tail at the lower angle of the 

 hinder pair. In color the wings 

 are pale yellow, with oblique trans- 

 verse black bars. This splendid BLACK-VEINED WHITE, WITH LARVA AND CHRYSALIDS. 



