PAPILIONIDiE. 
385 
seldom sufficiently plentiful to do much damage. The chrysalides of 
many of the species are protected by their coloring, some being brown 
or gray and imitating bits of bark or decayed wood, while others are 
green, and when hidden among the leaves are very difficult to see. 
According to Mr. Henry Edwards, “ Twenty species, or at least 
strongly marked forms of true Papilio may be credited to the United 
States.” 
Papilio turnus is one of the largest and handsomest species of 
this group found within the borders of our country. It is an abun¬ 
dant insect over a large part of North America, but is replaced on 
the Pacific Slope by two or three allied forms not very different in 
size and coloring. 
Specimens of this species vary greatly in size, ranging all the way 
from the small New England insects, frequently less than three and 
one-half inches in expanse of wings, to the magnificent creatures seen 
occasionally from southern Illinois southward, five and one-half or 
even six inches across. These large insects are often truly grand in 
coloring, and easily take a place among the princes of the butterfly 
world. In New England the species makes its appearance frequently 
as early as the middle of Maj^, and is usually plentiful for three or 
four weeks. Stragglers may occasionally be taken during the latter 
part of summer and early in the fall, but the insect is single brooded, 
except possibly in the southern part of its territory. 
When the foliage is fresh and green and the woods resound with 
the songs of birds and the hum of insect life awakened from its 
winter sleep, our beautiful tiger swallow-tail, as it is commonly called, 
delights to congregate about sunny openings in the forest, chasing 
each other high up among the oak leaves, or opening and shutting 
its gaily tinted wings as it alights on the lower shubbery. The 
butterflies are not very shy at these times, and one may quietly walk 
into their chosen playground without disturbing them. They fre¬ 
quently quit the forest in quest of sweets, and visit the cultivated 
fields. The syringa is one of their favorite flowers, and so intent are 
they on extracting the honey that one may frequently capture them 
with the fingers. With other species of butterflies they congregate 
in great numbers on the muddy banks of streams or lakes or at wet 
places in the roads, where one may take a dozen or more with one 
sweep of the net. A friend of mine tells of seeing a patch of these 
butterflies covering a space of several square feet, resting on the mud 
near a lake in northern New Hampshire, where he has been accus- 
