964 - POLYMORPHIC BUTTERFLY. 
pupal to the larval period, and vice versd.” Unfortunately for this a 
conclusion the figures given by Mr. Edwards, or their reduction by 
Mr. Meldola, refer in each case to the progeny of Walshii, Tela- n 
monides and Marcellus, and do not bear upon the question at all. F 
In every instance given in the tables, the progeny or resultant e 2 
Marcellus. By Mr. Meldola’s rule, Walshii and Telamonides, — 
being the produce of wintering ¢hrysalides, should be, as they are, e 
smaller than Marcellus, since the ‘latter is always the result of : 
short-lived, summering chrysalides ; unless, however, some unknown 
factor plays a part, Telamonides should be smaller than Walshit, a 
. because produced later in the season from wintering chrysalides + ; 
but here the opposite is the case. ee. 
The extreme abundance of Ajax is well attested by Edwards, 3 
when he says: “at certain seasons it is almost impossible to find af 
a young plant [of papaw] that is free from . . . . eggs and E o 3 
easy to collect scores of them.” i a 
“The female of Ajax may frequently be seen coursing through - 
the papaw trees which . .... cover the lower hillsides, or how = 
ering about the young plants that spring up in the cultivated fiel : 
searching for leaves on which to deposit her eggs. After touching a 
or running over and rejecting several, she finds one suitable to es 
purpose. Thereupon balancing by the rapid fluttering of A 
wings, she stands for an instant with legs stretched at full leng®" a 
perpendicular to the body, and curving down the abdomen ul . 
it touches the surface, deposits a single egg ; then flies away, ma 
ently to alight on a second leaf with like intent. Sometimes a 
egg is upon the stem, ànd occasionally on the under side sit 
leaf, but almost always it is upon the upper side, and pe 
one egg will usually be found on the same leaf. The p 7 
laying continues for several successive days.” (Edwards). — 
. Doubleday, speaking in particular of the spring-brood we a 
“I rarely saw it alight on flowers. Now and then it would alig 
on flowers of Anona grandiflora... . . its flight low, rapid ( 
sailing with its wings expanded as P. Thoas and others). < cleat 
_ in and around the low scattered brush wood, by the sides wi a 
ings, old deserted cotton fields, and similar situations, often ; 
turning to the same spots ; in fact so regular did the round er 
be taken, that I have often waited behind a bush for a few me 
for the return of an individual I had seen pass, and rarely = 
* Arcana Entomologica, i, 61. oe 
= 
