"When I recall the first sight of this larva, the impression gained of it was a most curious one. The forward mask-like face was remarkably startling. This mask, bearing eye-like spots and the light transverse ridge, gave it an aspect which might easily be mistaken for real eyes and a mouth. This contrivance is only a false face in no way connected with the real eyes and mouth. One might imagine the shock that a bird, or other predaceous enemy, would experience when looking upon this grinning mask. This is in reality the effect produced, for I have seen small birds so alarmed that they lost their appetite and curiosity for these larvae after a brief glance at them. It is certain that these singular markings have the effect of terrifying their bird enemies."[B]
[B] "Nature Sketches in Temperate America," p. 146.
The yearly cycle of the Tiger Swallowtail is much like that of the related species. It passes the winter as a chrysalis, the butterflies coming forth just about the time that the lilacs bloom. They remain upon the wing for a few weeks and deposit their eggs upon a great variety of trees and shrubs, for the food plants of the larvae are unusually varied and include tulip trees, birches, wild cherries, apples, poplars, ash, and several other common trees or shrubs. These eggs soon hatch into caterpillars that feed upon the leaves and make for themselves resting places by spinning a web of silk transversely across the surface of the leaf. They remain upon these silken webs when not feeding and in later life are likely to cause the leaf on which the web is made to curl into a partial tube. When fully developed they change to chrysalids which give forth the summer brood of butterflies in July and August. These in turn lay eggs for the caterpillars which change to chrysalids in autumn and remain in that condition until the following spring.
The Short-tailed Papilio
Papilio brevicauda
Were one enough of a magician to make one butterfly over into another it would be comparatively easy to take a Black Swallowtail and transform it into this species. One would only need to trim off the long tails so that they project very slightly from the angles of the hind wings and to change the yellow spots to orange. He would thus accomplish what Nature through the long ages seems to have accomplished in a limited northern area in Newfoundland and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, for the Short-tailed Papilio is confined chiefly to this region, where it lives a life very similar to that of the Black Swallowtail. The caterpillar feeds upon the leaves of various members of the parsley family and is said to have learned to warm itself during the middle of the day by resting upon stones and gravel which have absorbed the sun's heat rays. Presumably there is but one brood a year and the insect hibernates as a chrysalis.
The Palamedes Swallowtail
Papilio palamedes
If the magician who had succeeded in converting a Black Swallowtail into the Short-tailed Papilio wished to try his hand on making a Palamedes Swallowtail he could not do better than to use again the same black butterfly. He would only need to make it about one half larger, retaining practically all its color markings and the outline of its wings and tail. For this species bears a remarkable resemblance to the Black Swallowtail, seeming to be a giant variety induced by the warmth of the southern climate where it lives, and possibly by the more generous supply of the magnolia and sassafras leaves upon which the caterpillars feed.
This species is distinctly a southern form occurring as far west as the Mississippi River throughout the more Southern states. As one would expect in the long seasons and warm climate of this region there are several broods each year and the caterpillars often hibernate as well as the chrysalids. The adult butterflies are lovers of the sun and are said to roost at night upon the tops of live oak and palmetto trees.