Family PAPILIONIDAE 
Genus PAPILIO, Linnaeus , 1758 
THE SWALLOW-TAIL BUTTERFLY 
Papilio machaon (Linn., 1758). 
(Plate XXIX, facing page 324) 
HE Swallow-tail is the only British representative of the 
great family Papilionidae , which comprises some of the 
largest and most beautiful butterflies known throughout 
the world. 
Haunts and Distribution. Formerly this fine insect, the 
largest of the indigenous British butterflies, occurred in 
several of the southern counties of England, but is now met 
with only in the fenlands of Cambridge, Norfolk and in a 
very limited part of Suffolk. Within the last century this 
butterfly has from time to time been introduced, mostly in 
the pupal state, into various localities in the southern half 
of this country; also, the larvae have been found wild in 
Kent. But it is most probable that all such occurrences 
have been due to the liberation of specimens in one stage or 
another and not to natural conditions. 
In the past, when Battersea and Tottenham were rural 
country districts, the Swallow-tail existed in some abundance 
in the surrounding marshlands. 
Although in England it is only found frequenting the fens, 
it commonly occurs in various places on the Continent, in¬ 
habiting woods, fields, moors, and mountains, where it occurs 
at an elevation varying from 5,000 and 6,000 feet. No 
explanation can be put forward why this, butterfly should 
confine its range to marsh and fen in this country. 
Apparently P. machaon is very fastidious in its habits, as 
on certain occasions during the finest weather not a single 
specimen may be seen on the wing, even when the species is 
fully out and abundant. 
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