20 



ON SOME lOTOXIOUS .INSECTS. 



By W. Saunders, London, Ont. 



Following the plan inaugurated in our Keport for last year, we present our readers 

 with a chapter in which will be given the life history of several of our common insects, 

 which are neither injurious nor beneficial to the farmer or fruit grower, but which, from 

 the frequency with which they are met with, or else from something remarkable in their 

 appearance or methods of life, excite curiosity and claim attention. 



The Tiger Swallowtail {Papilio turnus. — Linn.) 



Everyone must have seen the large Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, floating about in the 

 warm days of July and August, enjoying the sunshine, and sipping the honey from 

 flowers. It is among our largest and handsomest butterflies. In figure 13 we have an 



Fig. 13. 



excellent representation of it, which will be readily recognized. When its wings are fully 

 expanded this insect will measure about four inches across. The ground colour of its 

 wings is a pale lemon yellow, which is banded and bordered with black. On the fore 

 wings are four black bars, the inner one extending entirely across the wing, the outer 

 ones shortening more and more as they approach the apex. The front margin is edged 

 with black, and the outer margin has a wide border of the same, in which is set a row of 

 eight or nine pale yellow spots, the lower ones less distinct. The hind wings are crossed 

 by a streak of black, which is almost a continuation of the inner band on the fore wings. 

 There is a short black streak a little beyond, at the end of the discal cell, and a wide 

 black border, widening as it approaches the inner angle of the wing. Enclosed within 



