PSYCHE 
VOL. XXXIII. FEBRUARY 1926 
No. 1 
NOTES ON THE ODORS OF SOME NEW ENGLAND 
BUTTERFLIES. 
Austin H. Clark. 
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
Considering the strength of the odors exhaled by one or 
both sexes of many of our common butterflies it is quite extra- 
ordinary that they have received so little attention. 
The following notes were made chiefly at Manchester and 
Essex, Massachusetts. It is quite possible that in certain species 
there will be found to be a geographical variation in the strength 
or type of the odor which may or may not be correlated with 
variation in color or in other characters. It is also quite possible 
that further investigation will show in certain types more or less 
dimorphism in the odors such as has been reported in the southern 
Papilio polydamus. 
The noses of my two young sons being much more acute 
than mine, their assistance in experimenting with some scores 
of captured butterflies was of the greatest value; in fact some 
of the odors readily detected by both of them I was unable to 
perceive at all. Ordinarily the testing of butterflies for odors is 
an interesting and pleasant task; but one must always be pre- 
pared for most unwelcome surprises as in the case of the females 
of the fritillaries. 
Close observation of the courting of the argynnids and of 
Eurymus philodice has led me to believe that the male odors are 
sexual stimulants pure and simple, while the female odors, 
always disagreeable in varying degrees and sometimes nauseating, 
are protective. 
