PART II. 

 DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES. 



The Swallow-tail (Pafiilio machaon). 



The Swallow-tail butterfly is the only British member of the 

 extensive and universally distributed sub-family Papilioninae, 

 which includes some of the largest as well as the most handsome 

 kinds of butterfly. Our species has yellow wings ornamented 

 with black, blue, and red, and is an exceedingly attractive 

 insect. The black markings are chiefly a large patch at the 

 base of the fore wings, this is powdered with yellow scales ; a 

 band, also powdered with yellow, runs along the outer or hind 

 portion of all the wings. There are also three black spots on 

 the front or costal margin, and the veins are black. The bands 

 vary in width, and that on the hind wings is usually clouded 

 more or less with blue. At the lower angle of the hind wings 

 there is a somewhat round patch of red, and occasionally there 

 are splashes of red on the yellow crescents beyond the band. 

 The male and female are shown on Plate 2. 



The eggs are laid on leaflets of the milk parsley {Peucedanum 

 palustre), which in the fenny home of the butterfly is perhaps 

 the chief food-plant of the caterpillar. This is one of the few 

 eggs of British butterflies that I have not seen. Buckler says 

 that it is globular in shape, of good size, greenish yellow in 

 colour when first laid, quickly turning to green, and afterwards 

 becoming purplish. 



D 



