1898.] 181 



BUTTERFLIES SEEN IN AND AROUND JERUSALEM- 

 BT A. H. SWINTON, F.E.S. 



The liill country of Judea rises as a saddle back of conical hills 

 and hillocks of limestone and chalk, in places horizontally stratified or 

 terraced so as to present the appearance of being turned out of box- 

 wood ; and Jerusalem " the waterless " stands upon a declivity in a 

 hollow on the water shed of these Downs, which, in their wildest 

 aspects, resemble those of Surrey and Wilts, and which are clothed 

 with similar plants, whose species, sometimes identical, are commonly 

 more spiny, woody or woolly ;* and a few have an aroma which is 

 fugitive. 



Around Jerusalem a diversified shade is absent, for the trees and 

 bushes have been replaced by olive yards that seem to have outlived 

 the crude-fruited date palms, and consequently insects, as on the 

 Mendips, are erratic and phenomenal rather than local, save when the 

 food-plant of the butterflies grows on the walls of the towns or ia 

 garden plots ; and then such kinds are suburban. 



The species which I noticed between April and September, 1896, 

 Mr, Kirby has kindly identified for me as follows : — ■ 



PAPILIONID^. 



Fapilio Machaon, L., 23/5, 1/8.— The European type of the Swallow Tail 

 Butterfly, which extends as far as the Euphrates. There are two annual generations 

 at Jerusalem, I think, as in Europe, and I recall that one morning when I called on 

 Miss Fitzjohn, who resides in the suburbs, she showed me the caterpillars feeding 

 on rue in her garden. As regards the coloration of the chrysalides she said, " I 

 have several in a box which is of a light and unstained wood, two of these are of 

 the same age, the one is a brownish-grey and the other a light green." 



Thais Cerisyi, B. — Appears early in the spring. I found the caterpillars 

 feeding in Mrs. Reardon's garden at Jerusalem on Aristolochia parviflora, a plant 

 with a gourd-shaped seed pod that grew under the stone walls. They became 

 chrysalides in July, and the butterflies emerged at Redbridge in England on the 

 15, 21, 26, 28, and 29 of the following April. 



Doritis ApolUna, Hbst. — Appears earlier than the preceding. I found the 

 caterpillars feeding, in company with those of T. Cerisyi, on Aristolochia parviflora. 

 They became chrysalides in July, and the butterflies emerged at Redbridge in 

 England the 23 and 25 of the following March. 



PIERIDiE. 



Gonepteryx Antonia, Butl., 19/5 — 2/6. — This Brimstone Butterfly is on the 

 wing at the commencement of February ; it flies wildly in the gardens at mid-day, 

 and I have no doubt but what its caterpillars feed on the hawthorns (Cratcegus 

 azarolus) that may be seen here and there in the gardens and olive yards. 



* I have followed Br. Post's Flora of Syria. 



