60 Beautiful Butterflies. 



drain Whittlesea Mere, as they have lately been doing, 

 and turn the fens into farms, where something more 

 than flocks of cackling geese can be bred and fed ; even 

 although the race of Swallow-tails should become 

 extinct in consequence. But we have little fear of 

 this ; for many centuries to come there will be marshy 

 waste places, where umbelliferous plants, such as the 

 wild parsley, carrot, and fennel grow and flourish, and 

 where, if anywhere, one may expect to find this Queen 

 of British Butterflies, in company, perhaps, but this 

 would be a rare chance indeed, with the Scarce 

 Swallow-Tail, called by naturalists Papilio Poda- 

 lirius, of which but a few specimens have been taken 

 in England. Why it was called Podalirius, we cannot 

 tell, — this was the name of a son of the ancient Greek 

 physician, Esculapius. Both in shape and markings 

 this insect differs considerably from the more common 

 kind — the wings are more pointed and slender ; there 

 are no red eyes in the lower ones, nor patches of 

 purple, but dark blue spots shine on each side in the 

 place of them. The Caterpillar is shorter and stouter, 

 green with yellow and red markings. It is said to feed 

 on the leaves of the apple, sloe, plum, peach, and 

 almond ; the chrysalis is light brown. 



