16 



NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



on the upper side and the long tails 

 to the lower wings. 



The female has only one row of 

 yellow spots crossing the upper 

 wings, the second being incom- 

 plete. They first appear in June 

 and continue into September. The 

 eggs are laid on parsnips, celery, 

 carrots and like plants and the 

 larvae often do considerable dam- 

 age to young plants. They may 

 be known by the black bands and 

 rows of yellow spots around them 

 and the disagreeable odor they 

 emit when disturbed. The butterfly 

 is mostly found feeding on red clov- 

 er or garden flowers, being very fond 

 of the verbena. It is not a hard 

 butterfly to take in a net and is al- 

 ways common here. 



Next comes Papilio troilus or the 

 Green-spotted Swallow-tail. It is 

 easily know by the dark colors and 

 the greenish color of the spots of 

 which there is only one row on 

 each of the upper wings in either 

 sex. This species as a rule is larg- 

 er than the last, in fact it is the 

 largest of our butterflies, except, 

 possibly, some specimens of the 

 Milk-weed Butterfly. They do not 

 appear as early as the last, usually 

 not until July, becoming common 

 in August. The eggs are laid on 

 shrubby trees usually the sassa- 

 fras and the larvae spins the edges 

 of the leaves together making a 

 tent which it proceeds to devour, 

 literally eating up its own home. 



This butterfly is very swift on 

 the wing and does not stop often, 

 making them much harder to get 

 than the last. 



Our last species of this family 

 known as Papilio turnus, or Yellow 

 Swallow-tail is the most erratic of 

 any of the butterflies I have observ- 

 ed. They are never very common 

 in this vicinity, and some years, 

 notably the past season they have 

 been positively rare. It is entirely 

 different from the other two, and 

 may be easily known by the pre- 

 dominance of yellow on both up- 

 per and lower wings, with a black 

 border and long tails. 



Their flight is high and swift and 

 as they stop to feed only at long 

 intervals they are difficult to cap- 

 ture. The eggs are mostly laid on 

 trees of the rose family especially 

 Apples, Pears, Plums and Cherries, 

 but they never get thick enough to 

 do any material damage, 



Perhaps you have all noticed my 

 next species, the Yellow-bordered 

 Butterfly, known as Vannessa antio- 

 pa. It may be easily identified by 

 the purple-brown color bordered 

 all around with a wide band of yel- 

 low, This butterfly has a very 



velvety appearance. It is sluggish 

 and unsuspicious and may be found 

 more or less common from May ist 

 to November, flying but little and 

 spending most of its time resting 

 on the ground, fence boards, tree- 

 trunks, etc. In the fruit season it 

 feeds almost exclusively on the 

 juices of bruised or rotten fruits, 

 prefering apples and pears. When 

 thus engaged it may be caught be- 

 tween the thumb and finger and ex- 

 amined without hurting it mater- 

 ially. The eggs are laid on various 

 trees, especially the elm. 



This and other species of the 

 family perpetuate themselves by 

 hibernating through the winter. 



Next we will look up a member 

 of the family Argynnis; the Silver- 

 spotted Butterfly known in its two 

 forms as Argynnis cybel and Argynnis 

 aphrodite, they are so nearly alike 

 that only the closest scrutiny shows 

 the distinguishing marks and their 

 habits admit of their being treated 

 as one. In color they are light red 

 shading to yellow,barred and dotted 

 with black on both surfaces, and 

 with numerous crescents and spots 

 of silver on the under surface of 

 the lower wings. They are fond of 

 feeding on the flowers of the milk- 

 weed, teasel, and most especially 

 the flowers of that large thistle of- 

 ten called bull-thistle or pasture 

 thistle, {Cirsiuni lanceolatum). Their 

 flight is swift but short, and they 

 are not difficult to capture as they 

 come back to the same spot re- 

 peatedly. 



The eggs are laid on the wild 

 violets and the larvae pass the win- 

 ter in the pupa stage. 



My next two everyone has seen 

 without doubt, as, in their season, 

 they penetrate to the heart of our 

 cities and swarm everywhere. 



First, is Colias philodicc, or Black- 

 bordered Sulphur Butterfly, known 

 to everyone by its deep yellow col- 

 or, and contrasting black border. 

 They are very common here from 

 May to October and feed on al- 

 most any flower. The eggs are 

 laid on plants of the Leguminose or 

 pea family, mostly on the Red Clov- 

 er which the larvae make great havoc 

 with, coming as they do, at the 

 time when we are apt to have dry 

 weather, retarding plant growth 

 but favoring all insect life. This 

 and the next bring out several 

 broods in a season, possibly four. 



Lastly I will write a few lines cn 

 the common Cabbage Butterfly, 

 (Pieris rapce) . This nearly white 

 butterfly is too well known to need 

 any detailed description. It was 

 introduced from Europe to Canada 

 about i857 t andj like other foreign 



pests" 'has thriven here, having 

 spread over nearly all of temperate 

 N. America. The eggs are laid on 

 cabbage, turnip, and other plants 

 of this order and the green larvae 

 eat rapidly proving very destructive. 

 The two best remedies are kerosene 

 emulsion sprayed on the plants or 

 common ground black pepper 

 sprinkled on the worms. Neither 

 of these prove practicable on a 

 large scale. While I have spoken 

 of only 8 out of about 100, species 

 we have, still I think it best to 

 close before I make my subject te- 

 dious, and thereby destroy all value 

 I could hope my article might 

 have. 



Ernest H. Short, 



Chili, N. Y. 



A Train Stopped by Snails. 



Mr. Laille, an engineer in the 

 employ of the Tunisian Railway, 

 writes in the Dipcciic Titnisienne : 

 ''The train coming east from Suk- 

 el-Arba last Thursday was two 

 hours late for a very singular rea- 

 son. The road was literally cov- 

 ered with snails, the wheels of the 

 locomotive crushing these mol- 

 lusks into a pulp, which destroyed 

 all adherence and caused the loco- 

 motive wheels to skate, so to speak, 

 in their places. We have seen 

 flocks of locusts stop trains, but I 

 think the fact that snails can stop 

 a train is without a precedent. 

 These snails are very general all 

 through Tunis especially during the 

 rainy season; the smallest remain- 

 der of green on field or tree are 

 covered with them, so much so 

 that they appear like a bunch of 

 grapes rhung up, only that their 

 white shells produce a curious ef- 

 fect." — Phila. Record. 



A PECULIAR RABBIT. — Have 

 just received a specimen for 

 our Museum of Natural History 

 which was sent in from the west- 

 ern part of the state, a note of 

 which I thought might be of inter- 

 est to the readers of the Natural 

 Science News. 



The specimen is a Lept/s sylvati- 

 cus, common Cotton-tail, large and 

 healthy. The one peculiar thing 

 about it is that its body is every- 

 where covered with an abnormal 

 growth of fine silvery hair from 

 three to four inches in length. It 

 presents quite a shaggy appear- 

 ance, resembling somewhat an 

 Opossum in color. Can you men- 

 tion similar specimens or give an 

 explanations. — T. G. Pearson, Guil- 

 ford College, N. C. 



