36 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
May, 1927 
only place we have visited, and it undoubtedly is well- 
known there, though we did not see it, but Mr. A. Burns 
and others have taken it on the Richmond River, probably 
its southern limit. 
The food plants is Aristolochia pervenosa, but in the 
dense jungle country it is not easy to find this plant. 
However, its curious flower will betray its presence tc 
those who seek for it. Its ovum, larva, and pupa are now 
well-known, and have been described by Mr. IT. Schneider 
in “The Entomologist,” Vol. XXVIli, April, 1895, No. 
383. Several times T obtained the pupae of the insect and 
watched the emergence (ecdysis) of the butterfly, both 
male and female, and as Mr. Schneider has noted, the 
pupae were not on the food plant, but on others not far 
distant. Its eggs are laid on the food plant. The larvae 
and pupae vary somewhat in colouration. Mr. Schneider 
has figured one pupa, as also the eggs on part of the leaf 
■ of the Aristolochia, showing the characteristic veining of 
the plant. • 
In its habits the- butterfly is a bold and fearless 
creature, and will come and settle quite close, though if 
roughly disturbed it sails off very rapidly, usually 
obliquely upward. When settled during the day its 
wings are as usual in other papilios, not as in P. aegeus. 
On the mountains the imported Scotch thistle is a 
great attraction, but in other places, as at Big Burleigh, 
the flowers of lantana are a source of its nectarial 
pabulum. 
The thistle lantana blackberry and other pricklv 
plants prove very prejudicial to the appearance of the 
butterfly, and perfect specimens become so damaged and 
torn in a very short time after settling amongst these as 
to be useless to the collector. 
They are amongst the earliest of butterflies to 
take wing, and the latest to seek shelter. A smart shower 
of rain does not greatly affect them, neither does a 
drizzling rain offer much disturbance to their daily 
routine of life. They are usually more easily captured 
then. 
As with P. anaotus they very often drop to the ground 
amongst small plants when attacked bv the net of the 
collector, and upon his withdrawal of the net thinking 
he has it therein, it quietly slips away, to his intense 
surprise. However, this habit is not confined to these 
two butterflies, but is frequently resorted to by other 
species. The safest way is to drop the net over the 
