Part 55 (1/2)
SUBFAMILY PAPILIONINae
_b.u.t.terfly._--Generally large, and often with the hind wings adorned by tail-like projections. The most characteristic structural feature of the group is the absence of the internal vein of the hind wings. The submedian vein occupies the position usually held in other subfamilies by the internal.
_Early Stages._--In that portion of the group which includes the genus _Parna.s.sius_ and its allies, the caterpillars are not, so far as is known, provided with scent-organs, and pupation takes place upon the ground, or among loosely scattered leaves, which are interwoven, at the time of pupation, with a few strands of silk. The genus _Papilio_ and its allies have large, fleshy, more or less cylindrical caterpillars, possessed of osmateria, or offensive scent-organs, and a general resemblance runs through the chrysalids of all species, which are attached by a b.u.t.ton of silk at the a.n.a.l extremity and supported in the middle by a silk girdle.
Genus PARNa.s.sIUS, Latreille
(The Parna.s.sians)
”Some to the sun their insect wings unfold, Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold; Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight, Their fluid bodies half dissolv'd in light.”
POPE.
_b.u.t.terfly._--Of medium size, with more or less diaphanous wings, generally white or yellow in color, marked with black spots and round pink or yellow spots, margined with black. The head is relatively small, thickly clothed with hairs. The antennae are short and straight, having a gradually thickened club. The palpi are very thin, straight, and clothed with long hairs. The wings are generally translucent on the margin, with a rounded apex. The upper radial is lacking. The subcostal is five-branched, the third, fourth, and fifth nervules being emitted from a common stalk which springs from the upper outer angle of the cell. The first subcostal nervule rises well before the end of the cell; the second from the same point from which the stalk which bears the other three nervules springs. The cell of the hind wing is evenly rounded at its outer extremity. The inner margin of the hind wing is more or less excavated.
_Early Stages._--The egg is turban-shaped, flattened, profusely covered with small elevations, giving it a s.h.a.greened appearance. The caterpillars have very small heads. They are flattened, having a somewhat leech-like appearance; they are black or dark brown in color, marked with numerous light spots. The chrysalis is short, rounded at the head, and pupation takes place on the surface of the ground, among leaves and litter, a few loose threads of silk being spun about the spot in which transformation occurs.
The b.u.t.terflies of this genus are cla.s.sified with the _Papilioninae_, because of the fact that the internal vein of the hind wings is always wanting, a characteristic of all papilionine genera.
[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 149.--Neuration of the genus _Parna.s.sius_.]
(1) =Parna.s.sius clodius=, Menetries, Plate x.x.xIX, Figs. 7, 9, ?; Figs.
8, 10, ? (Clodius).
_b.u.t.terfly._--The species may be distinguished from the following by the uniformly larger size and the more translucent outer margins of the fore wings in the male. Expanse, ?, 2.50-2.75 inches; ?, 2.50-3.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--These await study. The egg and young larva were described by W.H. Edwards in the ”Canadian Entomologist,” vol. xi, p.
142, but we have no account of the later stages. The caterpillar feeds on _Sedum_ and _Saxifraga_.
_Clodius_ is found upon the mountains of California in spring and early summer. It is, like all its congeners, an alpine or boreal species.
(2) =Parna.s.sius smintheus=, Doubleday and Hewitson, Plate x.x.xIX, Fig. 3, ?; Fig. 4, ?; var. =behri=, Edwards, Fig. 1, ?; Fig. 2, ?; var.
=hermodur=, Henry Edwards, Fig. 6, ?; _mate of hermodur_, Fig. 5, ?
(Smintheus).
_b.u.t.terfly._--This very beautiful insect is greatly subject to variation, and the plate shows a few of the more striking forms, of which the dark female, named _hermodur_ by the late Henry Edwards, is one of the most beautiful. Expanse, ?, 2.00-2.50 inches; ?, 2.25-3.00 inches.
_Smintheus_ is found at proper elevations upon the mountains from Colorado to California, and from New Mexico to Montana. The life-history is most exquisitely delineated by Edwards in ”The b.u.t.terflies of North America,” vol. iii.
The caterpillar feeds on _Sedum_ and _Saxifraga_.
Genus PAPILIO, Linnaeus
(The Swallowtails)
”The b.u.t.terfly 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.