"The butterfly the ancient Grecians made The soul's fair emblem, and its only name— But of the soul, escaped the slavish trade Of mortal life! For in this earthly frame Ours is the reptile's lot—much toil, much blame,— Manifold motions making little speed, And to deform and kill the things whereon we feed."
Coleridge.
Butterfly.—Generally large, frequently with the hind wings tailed. A figure of the neuration characteristic of this genus is given on p. 20, Fig. 38. From this it will be seen that the internal vein of the hind wing is lacking, the submedian vein occupying the space which is commonly occupied by the internal vein. The median vein of the fore wing is connected with the submedian by a short vein, from the point of union of which with the submedian there proceeds a short internal vein in this wing. There is great diversity of form in the wings of this genus, some species even mimicking the species of the Euplœinæ and Heliconiidæ very closely, and being entirely without tails. In all cases, however, in spite of obvious diversities in color and in form, there is substantial anatomical agreement in the structure of the wings; and the caterpillars and chrysalids reveal very strongly marked affinities throughout the whole vast assemblage of species, which at the present time includes about five hundred distinct forms.
Early Stages.—The eggs are somewhat globular, flattened at the base, and smooth. The caterpillars are cylindrical, smooth, fleshy, thicker in the anterior portion of the body than in the posterior portion, and are always provided with osmateria, or protrusive scent-organs, which, when the larva is alarmed, are thrust forth, and emit a musky odor, not highly disagreeable to the human nostrils, but evidently intended to deter other creatures from attacking them. The chrysalids are always attached by a button of silk at the anal extremity, and held in place by a girdle of silk about the middle. The chrysalids are, however, never closely appressed to the surface upon which pupation takes place.
There are about twenty-seven species of this genus found within the limits of boreal America. Our fauna is therefore much richer in these magnificently colored and showy butterflies than is the fauna of all Europe, in which but three species are known from the Dardanelles to the North Cape and Gibraltar. The genus is wonderfully developed in the tropics both of the New and the Old World, and has always been a favorite with collectors, containing many of the largest as well as the handsomest insects of the order.
(1) Papilio ajax, Linnæus, Plate II, Fig. 14, larva; Plate VI, Figs. 11, 12, chrysalis (Ajax).
Butterfly.—This insect, which is one of the most beautiful in our fauna, has been the subject of attentive study in recent years, and is now known to be seasonally polymorphic. We have given in Plate XLIV figures of several of the forms.
(a) Winter form walshi; Edwards, Plate XLIV, Fig. 4, ♂. In this form, which emerges from chrysalids which have been exposed to the cold of the winter, the black bands of the wings are narrower and a trifle paler than in the other forms, the tails of the hind wing tipped with white, and the crimson spot on the inner margin near the anal angle forming a conspicuous bent bar. A variety of this form, with a more or less distinct crimson line parallel to the inner margin on the upper side of the hind wing, has been named Papilio ajax, var. abbotti, by Edwards.
Another winter form, for which I propose the name floridensis, is represented in Plate XLIV, Fig. 2, by a male specimen. It is characterized by the great breadth and intensity of the black bands on the upper side of the wings, which are quite as broad as in the summer form marcellus. I find this form prevalent in the spring of the year on the St. Johns River, in Florida. Expanse, 2.50-2.75 inches.