368 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



caterpillars given to defoliating shade trees in the city 

 streets make their foraging invasions for the sole pur- 

 pose of tormenting man, injuring him financially, and, 

 in general, militating against his material interests. These 

 writers seem to think that the parasites that prey upon 

 these caterpillars are in the world as a mere factor of 

 mitigation, and at work solely along those lines to elimi- 

 nate, as far a psossible, all such insect forces as operate 

 against these particular interests of man, into which 

 latter category surely many caterpillars fall. 



Our various casts of mind and the diversities of our 

 sense of appreciation regarding such forms are truly 

 remarkable. To some, the big, horned caterpillar of the 

 Regal moth is a "horrible thing," from whatever angle 

 it may be regarded; while to others it is an object of 

 admiration, whether considering its extraordinary form 

 and appendages, or its superb coloring, or the history of 

 its more than wonderful metamorphosis. It is not diffi- 

 cult to conceive what the moths, the butterflies, their 

 larvae, and their parasitic and other enemies think of it; 

 and were it possible for 

 them to state their claims 

 to their right to inhabit this 

 planet, to live and repro- 

 duce their kind, they would 

 surely convince any fair- 

 minded jury as to their 

 validity. 



Many people will be glad 

 to know that although 

 larvae or caterpillars of 

 butterflies feed upon the 

 leaves of many kinds of 

 plants, shrubs, and trees, 

 they rarely commit the 

 wholesale damage that the 

 caterpillars of moths do. 

 Few groups of our United 

 States butterflies are more 

 widely known that those representing the genus Papilio, 

 or as they are named in the vernacular, the Swallow- 

 tails. Most of the species are of good size, a large pro- 

 portion of them being characterized by having a tail-like 

 appendage .springing from the inner third of the margin 

 of either of the lower wings (Fig. 4). Indeed the wings 

 of any of the five hundred or more distinct forms of 

 this group vary greatly. Some even lack the tail-like 

 appendage, while some foreign forms may have two or 

 even three "tails" on either binder wing. We have more 

 than thirty different species in America, and new ones 

 are constantly being added to the list. 



Our Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) is found 

 in Florida, and a superb example of it is here shown in 

 Figure 4, having been captured by Mr. R. H. Young, 

 of Haines City of that State, and transmitted by mail. 

 The caterpillar feeds upon the leaves of the orange and 

 grape-fruit trees, and the nurserymen have given it the 

 name of "Orange Dog;" they claim that their trees suf- 

 fer from its depredations. Its range is now being greatly 



OUR BEST KNOWN SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY, AND SEEN 



FROM ABOVE. THE MALE OF THE COMMON EASTERN 



SWALLOWTAIL {Papilio asterias, Fabricius). 



Fig. 5 



but the inferior wings have also a curve* 

 terminating at their lower inner angles 

 yellow, black and red 



extended, and this big butterfly has even been captured 

 in Canada. Although its main colors are but two, black 

 and bright yellow, it is a very conspicuous species 

 wherever seen, and it forms a very striking addition to 

 the cabinet. This Giant Swallowtail has a very close 

 relative in the Thoas Swallowtail (P. thoas), a Mexican 

 species, sometimes taken in the lowermost parts of 

 Texas, especially in the hot, arid regions. This is also a 

 black and yellow form ; but the areas of the distribution 

 of these colors are not quite the same as we find in 

 P. cresphontes. 



Our most abundant form of Swallowtail east of the 

 Mississippi Valley is the familiar Papilio asterias 

 (Fig- 5)i a form famous throughout the Atlantic 

 States southward to include the entire Gulf tier of 

 States. The species is subject to considerable variation 

 in size and in intensity of the markings. A very con- 

 siderable aberration in which the yellow spots cover 

 almost the entire outer half of the wings has been found 

 on several occasions, and was named Papilio calverleyi 



by Grote. 



Ever since the dawn of 

 the biological sciences, the 

 study of the world's fauna 

 of moths and butterflies 

 has occupied the minds and 

 time of thousands of ear- 

 nest students. We now 

 have a superb literature 

 upon the various fields of 

 research covered, carrying 

 an enormous body of illus- 

 trations of every conceiv- 

 able description. Apart 

 from the study of fossil 

 forms, we have to deal 

 with the collecting and 

 breeding of every specific 

 and subspecific form of 

 butterfly and moth in the world, and there are a great 

 many thousands of. them. To some extent, these have 

 already been dealt with ; but where they have not, the 

 species must be examined superficially and structurally, 

 described, and figured. We must also make record of 

 the reproduction of any particular species, as its eggs, 

 larva, pupation, and so on, together with an intimate 

 investigation of its habits in nature. Then we have the 

 matter of geographical distribution to deal with ; varia- 

 tion of species ; the preparing of specimens for the cabi- 

 net, and for study in schools and museums ; modes of 

 capture, and some eight or ten other lines of investigation 

 and research. 



In previous numbers of American Forestry it has 

 been pointed out how important a number of these fields 

 of inquiry are to those interested in the protection, 

 propagation, and study of our forests and shade trees, 

 and the subject is one that will bear a considerable 

 amount of elaboration. All this goes without the saying ; 

 but upon the other hand hardly a word has been said 



The principal colors of these species are yellow and black; 



d row of long azure markings, 

 a conspicuous spot of 



