PAPILIONID^E. 245 



,head in long columns. They are truly tropical insects, since 

 Gerstaecker mentions that three times as many species (600) 

 occur at a single point (Para, Brazil) as in all Germany, where 

 scarcely 200 species live. There are about 5,000 species known ; 

 900 inhabit North America and probably the number will be 

 increased to a thousand, while about 125 species have been 

 found in New England and its immediate border. 



The noble genus Ornithoptera has very long, slightly knobbed 

 antennae, and a well developed prothorax ; while the fore- 

 wings are very large, elongated, triangular, and the hind wings 

 are relatively smaller and rounded. 0. Priamus Linn, is found 

 in the Moluccas. There are twenty species known. The larvae 

 as in some species of Papilio have an external forked sheath 

 for the "tentacles."' The pupa is sustained by a silken thread 

 as in Papilio (Wallace). 



Of the extensive genus Papilio, or "Swallow-tail," over 300 

 species are known. The larva is rather short and stout, with a 

 v-shaped scent-organ, or "tentacles." The pupa is supported 

 by a filament passed entirely around it. The common P. As- 

 terias Drury appears in New England in June, when it lays its 

 eggs on the leaves of parsley and other umbelliferous plants. 

 From this brood a new set of butterflies appear in August. 

 The larva is yellow, striped and spotted with black, and when 

 irritated, pushes out, from a slit in the prothoracic ring, a 

 v-shaped, yellow, fleshy, scent-organ, used as a means of de- 

 fence. The chrysalis is free, attached by the tip of the abdo- 

 men and supported by a loose silken thread, which is passed 

 over the back. It lives in this state from nine to fifteen days. 

 It has two ear-like projections on each side of the head and a 

 prominence on the back of the thorax. 



Mr. W. Saunders has received from St. John's, Newfound- 

 land, several specimens of a butterfly, one of which I have before 

 me, and instead of being a very remarkable variety of P. As- 

 terias, seems to be a distinct and undescribed species, as 

 supposed by my friend to whose collection it belongs. He 

 writes me, after giving a detailed description, presented below,* 



* " I'apilio brevicauda Saunders. Female. Expands three and one-fifth inches; 

 heaa, palpi and antennae black; thorax black, fringed with yellow hairs 011 each 

 side, for about half its length ; body above black, with a row of seven or eight 

 yellow spots along each side which are largest about the middle of the row; under 



