PAPILIO XII., XIII. 
habits and run-ways had been so well learned that I felt sure of ultimate suc¬ 
cess. 
“About 10th May, the fresh, bright colored males of the second brood sud¬ 
denly appeared in considerable numbers, and in a week females were also Hying. 
One day, I took two fine females, and the next discovered several feeding on 
alfalfa blossoms. That day eight were put in three bags and tied to willow 
boughs in the thickets, and the next afternoon quite a number of eggs had been 
laid and were sent forward. 
“ These females were all notably larger than those of the first brood, and gen¬ 
erally laid several eggs in confinement. From one I got twenty-eight. When 
the butterflies were taken far from my house, or in places difficult of access, they 
were put in tin boxes, and there confined with cut twigs of willow. But willow 
speedily wilts in a warm, dry place, so that in two hours the plant would be 
worthless, as the insects have sense enough not to lay on wilted leaves. To rem¬ 
edy this difficulty, I thought of the expedient of inverting over the plant, leaving 
off the bag, a wide-mouthed glass jar, of as large size as could be got. Jars of a 
gallon capacity gave excellent results. These not only kept the leaves from 
wilting, but also rendered the air moist and quiet, and evidently in a favorable 
condition for the object in view. But wherever possible, the butterflies were 
put in the gauze bags and left in the thicket where they had been found. In 
such cases three enemies are to be guarded against, boys, birds, and ants. The 
curious boys cannot possibly let the odd apparatus alone if they find it, and the 
sharp little Indian boys are quick at spying out such things. The birds are 
about as bad, for they eat the butterflies, prying open the meshes of the bag 
with their bills. To circumvent them, it is well to use a double bag, or to cover 
the bag with a cloth on the upper side. As to the ants, I have, whenever possi¬ 
ble, waded into a stream, or better, a wet bog, and so found places safe from both 
ants and boys. Then the bags must be placed low down near the ground and on 
thrifty fast-growing twigs. High-hung bags are never successful. Considerable 
shade must be had or the butterflies will die. All these things, easy enough when 
known, cost me days and weeks of experiment, and many disheartening failures 
occurred. From one cause or other it has sometimes been necessary to keep 
the captured females for several days. In such cases I fed them on sweetened 
water. They are easily tamed and soon learn to feed. 
“ It is probable there are more than three broods here when the season is so 
long. The butterflies will be flying in November, and if we allow two months 
for a brood, the fourth would appear about first of September, and their caterpil¬ 
lars would have time to pupate before cold weather, for with us October is very 
warm.” 
