NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



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 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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A Sketch of the Life History of 

 Papilio Asterias. * 



One of the most beautiful and 

 interesting of Natural Science stud- 

 ies is Entomology, and one of the 

 most interesting special studies in 

 this is the order of Lepidoptera. 



Again one of the most pleasant 

 pastimes in this study as well as a 

 valuable means of personal inves- 

 tigation and observation is the 

 breeding of the perfect insect from 

 the egg or larvae. 



During the past summer I found 

 time in my other duties to confine 

 a few of the yellow and black 

 "worms" found on the caraway 

 plant, and brought under closer 

 observation the well known process 

 of transformation and also the less 

 known fact of the parasitical oper- 

 ation of Trogus epssorius. Brulle 

 on this species. 



P. asterias. Drurg. , appears in 

 New England and the middle 

 states in June where it lays its eggs 

 on the leaves of the caraway, pars- 

 ley and plants of like order. From 

 the brood thus hatched another 

 set of butterflies appear in Au- 

 gust. Thus says Packard's 

 "Guide," but my observations are 

 that from the time of their appear- 

 ance in early summer until late in 

 the season (just what date I have 

 no record to state from), when 

 they disappear for the winter; they 

 are more or less constant with us 



* Note I have had free access to 

 "Packard's Manual," — that valuable 

 manual of the entomologist — to supple- 

 ment my knowledge, memory and notes 

 in the preparation of this article and to 

 that authority I wish to give due credit. 

 My thanks are also due to Mr. Beuten- 

 muller, entomologist of the American 

 Museum, for kindnesses shown me 

 while preparing these notes. B. S. B. 



and may be seen in varying num- 

 bers at any time. 



They are distinctively what 

 might be termed a domestic in- 

 sect and the caterpillar or larva 

 must be familiar to every observer 

 in country home. These range from 

 one and one quarter to two inches 

 or more in length, most commonly 

 found on the caraway and like plants 

 on the leaves of which they feed. 

 They are yellow striped and spot- 

 ted with black and when irritated 

 push out from a slit in the protha- 

 ic ring, a V-shaped fleshy yellow 

 scent organ which they employ as 

 a means of defense, and which is 

 quite equal in proportion to its 

 size to the firearm of the skunk. 



Unfortunately I have been un- 

 able to record the time which 

 elapses between the hatching of 

 the larva and the passing of the 

 same from the larva to the pupa 

 stage, nor have I seen any record 

 of same by any authority. In the 

 pupa stage however the time pass- 

 ed is from nine to fifteen days and 

 from this the perfect insect emerg- 

 ing with folded wings, in the 

 course of an hour or two of painful 

 crawling and slow closing and ex- 

 panding of the wings, has fully de- 

 veloped the latter organ. 



The male averages a trifle small- 

 er than the female, having the blue 

 mottling on the wings either almost 

 invisible or entirely wanting and a 

 band of large conspicuous spots of 

 bright yellow traversing both pairs 

 of wings about midway from body 

 to outer margin. 



When the larva first passes into 

 the pupa cr chrysalis the latter is 

 a decidedly yellowish-green and 

 from this passes to a brownish- 

 yellow and then a yellowish-brown, 

 the latter color deepening as 

 the time of emerging of the butter- 

 fly approaches. It is during this 

 chrysalis stage that the attacks of 

 the parasite Trogus epssorius. 

 Brulle. It is an insect of a tawny- 

 red or red-brown color. 



My caterpillars were collected 

 from their breeding grounds on 1 

 the caraway and confined in a 

 small wood box. over the top of 

 which mosquito bar was fastened. 

 They were kept supplied with 

 fresh leaves and the box kept in a 

 cool, moist place, until the in- 

 mates established themselves on 

 the sides in this second stage of 

 development. The box was then 

 removed to a position just outside 

 my chamber window, on a tin roof, 

 north side of the house and out of 

 the sun. 



Also the precaution of keeping 

 the mosquito bar over a hole some 



half inch in diameter in one side 

 of the box was no longer consider- 

 ed necessary. Alas! And yet per- 

 haps no reason, for where I lost 

 two specimens I gained two more 

 and a new observation which was 

 just as fresh and delightful as 

 though I had made a discovery 

 new to the scientific world. 



My first specimen duly came 

 forth and developed and was put 

 to death and illustrated and finally 

 added to my collection, but my 

 other two specimens were more 

 tardy and thereby forfeited such a 

 distinguished fate. . Now who 

 would have thought that the na- 

 ture of T. epssorius should be so 

 ruthless and relentless as to pur- 

 sue his victim even into the poor 

 creature's prison and there forever 

 bar the possibility those asterias 

 from posing before the world as 

 aught but empty chrysalis shells? 

 But such was the case. One morn 

 an inspection of my box proved 

 that two new lives had forced 

 themselves into it through that 

 small hole and the premature gap- 

 ing hole in the side of the chrysa- 

 lis told the tale of how the other 

 lives had escaped without the aid 

 of their "wings of flame." 



The papilio (P. asterias) is not 

 as a general thing a "high-flyer" 

 being found most commonly in the 

 vicinity of the plants on which the 

 larva feed but roaming the fields 

 to some extent and found occasion- 

 ally in almost all kinds of situa- 

 tions. 



A case of hermaphroditism in 

 this species is recorded in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the Philadelphia Ento- 

 mological Society (Vol. IV, p. 380) 

 as follows: 



"A specimen of Papilio asterias 

 is in my collection, and was cap- 

 tured by Mr. J. Megers of Brook- 

 lyn, L. I., two or three years since. 

 It is a fine instance of a perfect 

 hermaphrodite. The right wings 

 are both male, the left wings both 

 female, distinctly marked upon 

 both surfaces with no suffusion of 

 color. The size is that of the larg- 

 est specimen of Asterias.'" 



Mr. Saunders submitted to Mr. 

 Packard a specimen from St. 

 Johns, Newfoundland, which he 

 considered a new species and nam- 

 ed Papilio brevicdndd, saunders. Mr. 

 Packard, however, is inclined to 

 regard it as a remarkable variety 

 of Asterias. Mr. Saunders thus 

 describes the points of difference: 



"In P. asterias the palpi are 

 edged within with yellow; in P. 

 brevieauda they are black; P. aster- 

 ias has two yellow spots above at 

 the base of the antennae, which are 



