HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
55 
hippocratis is very like our Swallow-tail, so that 
the fact that these two Asiatic species did not 
seem suitable for introduction does not matter 
very much. 
The European "Scarce Swallow-tail" (Iphi- 
clides), which has occurred in this country natur- 
ally, refused to do anything in captivity but clung 
to the gauze-covered walls of the house, so the 
specimens were liberated after a few days. 
Mr. Floersheim does not give details as to the 
construction of his butterfly-house, but another 
Member of the Entomological Society, Mr. E. E. 
Bentall, writing in the "Entomologist" for 1913, 
says his own is made like a greenhouse, but with . 
the alternate panels of the roof constructed of 
perforated zinc instead of glass, to let in air and 
rain. In this he has kept our Swallow-taih and 
crossed it with the lighter-coloured continental 
race of the same species; he released many speci- 
mens of the butterflies, and also put out cater- 
pillars, which soon apparently fell a prey to the 
birds — in three days 150 caterpillars placed on 
clumps of Skimmia bush were gone, and sparrows 
were seen flying from these bushes. The fact, 
therefore, that our Swallow-tail caterpillars eat 
carrot leapes is no detriment to them as inhabi- 
tants of the country, and in fact I have never heard 
of this insect as a pest. Mr. Bentall apparently 
kept and released the Philenor also, as he speaks 
of seeing it flying about. 
As may be seen, the foreign Swallow-tails I 
have been alluding to do not eaf any plant grown 
for utility here, and in fact these noble butterflies 
as a group are particularly harmless. The same 
may be said about butterflies in general; except 
in the case of a few species, like our abundant 
"Whites," their caterpillars are not noxious, the 
destructive ones being those of moths as a rule, 
not only here but everywhere. Caterpillars, it 
must be remembered, also are very constant in 
their feeding habits, and only a few species will 
change their food. 
Our Swallow-tail has been bred successfully 
in much smaller quarters than a regular house, 
for in the same volume as that containing Mr. 
Floersheim 's papers, Mr. B. Pritchard records 
his success in breeding about 200 of our Swallow- 
tail—English and Continental — in a cage built 
against a wall and only six feet long by four 
broad and about seven high, raised nearly four 
feet off the ground, and containing carrots grow- 
ing in pots, as well as honey-giving flowers. 
Honey itself wasi also supplied, on bits of' sponge 
soaked in it Butterflies will also feed on mois- 
tened sugar, which can be placed on sponge and 
cotton wool, so that their simple wants are easily 
supplied, and when, after the War, it becomes 
again possible to obtain the chrysalises from 
abroad, if English and French dealers take up 
this branch, a most delightful hobby will be open 
to everyone. 
-®- 
GENERAL NOTES. 
By John D. Hamlyn. 
THAT word has been received in this country of 
the death of Henri Pol, octogenarian and poet, 
who was widely known as the "Bird Charmer 
of the Tuileries." M. Pol was a unique sort 
of person who might have stepped out of the 
pages of Balzac. For years he went to the 
Tuileries every morning at 11.10 o'clock and 
was so prompt and regular that he was called 
"Ten Past Eleven." He fed the sparrows and 
became friends with them and the other birds 
in the garden. 
THAT according to news from Washington, all 
horses and mules are to be protected with gas 
masks. Five thousand masks are being manu- 
factured daily and shipped to France. The 
masks are different from any of those made 
heretofore in that they are fastened to the 
heads of horses which are not wearing harness. 
It has frequently happened in the past that the 
horses were overcome by /gas because they 
were not wearing harness to which the masks 
could be fastened when the gas came. 
THAT Major R. W. Streefeldt gives an interest- 
ing description of a Mexican Four-horned 
Sheep with the two inner horns fused into a 
single median one, in this month's "National 
Humane Review." 
THAT the " Avicultural Magazine" for November 
contains a series of most interesting articles 
on bird life in general. 
THAT "Nature's Camouflage," written and illus- 
trated by Copt. F. Russell Roberts ("Country 
Life"), November 2nd, is one of the most inter- 
esting studies of wild animal camouflage ever 
seen. The photographs, "An Eland Bull," 
"Rhinoceros in the Scrub," and "Bull Giraffe 
merged into a tree," are wonderful. 
