296 



AROUND AN OLD HOMESTFAD. 



are at first of a yellowish, greenish tinge, turning later 

 to a dull, reddish purple or a rusty brown. A light 

 frost easily shrivels them, and they wither and fall. 

 A few, perhaps, secluded beneath some protecting 

 branches, may survive the cold, but ^ 

 the papaws will be few and far be- 

 tween that year. These blossoms have 

 sometimes a singular and slightly un^ 

 pleasant odor to them, like that 

 which comes from the 

 leaves or bark also, when 

 rubbed, pressed, or 

 bruised, and similar to S^^ M j/' that of the 

 offensive ailantus; but ■"'■^^^S^^f ,,iJ^ they are not 

 unlike those of the ■'.'w "^^^^^ common sweet- 

 smelling garden ■^/ ,»^p»j./ shrub (Calycanlhus 

 floridiis) ^^^■^^ W^ PB^-* ^"^ ^'^^ ^^'^ color, and 



quently, when in full 

 are faintly, and not un- 

 f suggestive of the latter's rich 

 ,f berry fragrance. It is said that 

 '^-'" odor will cause sickness, if it is 

 breathed too long. Yet, notwith- 

 standing the fetid smell, the larvae of 

 one of our butterflies ( Iphiclides ajax, 

 the zebra swallow-tail) prefer the pa- 

 paw leaf to any other food;^ and, since the first brood 

 from last year's chrysalids is out before the papaw leaves 

 appear, the females have the opportunity to lay their 

 eggs upon them, many of Avhich, however, are discov- 

 ered and eaten by insects and spiders. What instinct 



PAPAW BLOSSOMS. 



See the works on "Butterflies" by Edwards, Scudder, and Denton. 



