FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTERFLY LARVAE THE PAPILIONIDS. 35 



feeds on rue, dittany (Dictamnus fraxinella) , preferring the aromatic 

 seedpods of the latter, and on Ptelea, though larvae on the last-named 

 take at least twice as long to feed up as those on Skimmia. Floersheim 

 himself notes (Ent. Bee, xvi., pp. 316-7) that, contrary to the larva of 

 P. machaon, that of P. asterias refused to touch Skimmia, but took 

 readily to all the Umbellifers on which P. machaon feeds. Strangely, 

 Bentall states (Ent. Pec, xviii., p. 23) that, in his butterfly-house, both 

 Papilio )iiachaon and P. asterias neglected the Skimmia for fennel, on 

 which, and carrot, they fed up rapidly, and few umbelliferous plants seem 

 to come amiss to Papilio machaon, even Echinophora spinosa being recorded 

 (Ent. Bee, xvii., p. 297). Sheldon says (in litt.) that the larva of the 

 allied species, Papilio hospiton, is confined apparently to a single species 

 of fennel, with yellow umbels and growing about 4ft. high, the giant 

 species of fennel produced no lame, although carefully searched. 

 The larva of Papilio alexanor is equally restricted to Seseli montanuui, 

 and appears to attack no other plant. The Nearctic species, Papilio 

 zolicaon and P. brevicauda, close allies of P. machaon, are equally 

 restricted to umbelliferous plants for food, the former prefers 

 Foeniculum vulgare, whilst the latter eats wild parsley, Angelica, and 

 parsnip indifferently, and, although Edw T ards notes the larvae of this 

 species as being found wild on Angelica, they were also discovered on 

 almost every parsnip plant in the gardens at Placentia. Another ally, 

 but this time a subtropical species extending into the southern States, 

 Papilio polygenes, appears able to accommodate itself to a large number of 

 Umbellifers, but does not go outside the natural order, except that, in 

 the case of P. machaon, it readily takes to an introduced species of 

 rue, Dictamnus fraxinella. 



Our other widely-spread European species, Iphiclides podalirius, 

 belongs to a group of Papilionids whose larva? have an entirely 

 different food-habit. The larva of 1. podalirius feeds on trees, pre- 

 ferably fruit-trees of the natural order Rosaceae, sloe, almond, apple, 

 pear, etc., whilst Scudder notes that the Iphiclidid group of swallow- 

 tails appears to have its metropolis in South America, the larva? being- 

 like our European species solitary, and preferring plants of the natural 

 orders Piosaceae and Anonaceae as food. 



The larva of the Nearctic Euphoeades troilus usually feeds on 

 Lauraceae, but is also recorded as doing so on plants belonging to other 

 orders, e.g., Magnolia glauca, Xanthoxylum americanum, Primus persica, 

 Pyrus arbuti folia, etc. The larva? of Jasoniades, Scudder says, live in 

 solitude on trees belonging to a great many natural orders, that of J. 

 glaucus being noted as feeding on apple, quince, plum, cherry, birch, 

 alder, ash, and oak ; the larva of J. rutulus feeds on willow of several 

 species, Salix lasiolepis, S. lasiandra, etc., but never on S. nigra 

 (Edwards), and that of J. eurymedon is reputed to feed on Frangula. 



The Aristolochia-ieeding Papilionids appear to have a very wide 

 range, practically world-wide, e.g., the Nearctic Laertias philenor, the 

 Indian Ornithoptera minos, 0. hector, etc., the Sumatran Menelaides 

 antiphus, the Torres Strait Ornithoptera pronomus, the Pacific Islands' 

 0. durvilliana, etc. Similarly, the Citrus- or orange-feeding 

 Papilionids have an almost world-wide distribution ; in America 

 there is the well-knowm Heraclides cresphontes ; in Sumatra Papilio 

 polytes, P. demoleon, P. helenns, P. nephelus, and P. memnon (de 

 Niceville); in India, P. erithonius, P. polymnestor, etc. (Davidson and 



