508 
BIONOMIC NOTES 
“At Hammam B’ihra I submitted living male cleopatra to four 
ladies; one could not detect the scent, another could not describe 
it, a third compared it to Primrose, the fourth compared it first to 
Gorse, then to faint ‘ Syringa * (meaning Philadelphus coronarius). 
Personally after more experience I hesitate between Freesia and 
Philadeljphus. Altogether up to March 31st, when it was getting 
over, I examined nineteen male G. cleopatra and found the scent 
quite distinct in all save one. 
“ Though not as abundant in Algeria as G. cleopatra, our more 
familiar G. rhamni is sufficiently common, and naturally I examined 
that species, or form, for scent. To my great surprise out of 
ten specimens examined not one had a scent at all like that of 
cleopatra, indeed in most of them I could detect no scent whatever! 
One day in the hotel garden at Hammam R’ihra, I caught within a 
space a few yards in extent, and within a quarter of an hour, five 
butterflies in the following order:—1 S rhamni, 3 £ cleopatra, 1 £ 
rhamni; all the three cleopatra had the scent, but neither of the 
rhamni. 
“ The one specimen of cleopatra in which no scent was detected 
was tested on a day when my nasal mucous membrane was somewhat 
inflamed, moreover a neighbouring pig-sty was distinctly a disturbing 
element. Eor these reasons I do not include in the above numbers 
2 d rhamni examined under the same conditions with negative 
results. 
“ The living Gonepteryx can be easily held by the thumb below 
and the forefinger above the thorax, the wings being expanded, and 
so examined without appreciable injury to the specimen, in a way 
that the more delicate structure of most butterflies renders im¬ 
possible. 
“ These surprising results struck me so much at the time that I 
took care to assure myself that I was not deceived, but I trust other 
entomologists will repeat the observations when opportunity offers. 
Such a difference in the scent of the two forms must imply a 
physiological difference that would point to a specific distinction. 
“In North Devon on the 29th of May, 1905, I examined a £ 
G. rhamni but could detect no scent.” 
In the discussion which followed, Dr. F. A. Dixey said:— 
“ The facts relating to the scent of Gonepteryx cleopatra and G. 
rhamni which have just been laid before us by Dr. Longstaff are of 
very great interest, and certainly point in the direction of a real 
distinction between the two forms. I have occasionally detected a 
slight scent in British specimens of G. rhamni $, as recorded in our 
