LEPIDOPTERA. 



173 



This is one of the largest and the most beautiful of the European 

 butterflies. The wings are variegated with yellow and black ; the 

 eyes, antennae, and trunk are black. The body is yellow on the 

 sides and underneath, and black above. The front wings have 

 rounded edges ; the hind ones, on the contrary, are notched, and one 

 of these notches is prolonged into a sort of tail. The first are black, 



Fig. 141. Papilio Alexanor. 



spotted and striped with yellow ; the second have their upper part 

 and middle yellow, with some touches only of black. Near the 

 margin is a broad black band, dusted with blue ; lastly, six yellow 

 spots in the form of a crescent run along the border, and end in a 

 magnificent eye of a reddish colour, bordered with blue. 



The caterpillar of this species is large, smooth, and of a beautiful 

 light green, with a transverse black band on each ring. These 

 bands are sprinkled with orange spots. It lives on the fennel, carrot, 

 and other Umbelliferae. If teased, it thrusts from the first ring after 



