Swallowtail butterfly

“ Butterfly.—This interesting form of the species, known to entomologists as Papilio machaon, Linnæus, and to every English school-boy as "the Swallowtail," represents a colonization from the Asiatic mainland of this insect, which is the sole representative of the genus on English soil. It differs from the English butterfly by having more yellow on the upper side of the wings, and by having the tails of the secondaries much shorter. ”

“ The Tiger Swallowtail has a tendency to produce dark forms; and the dark form of the female was long regarded as a distinct species until it was discovered that some eggs produced by yellow females produced black females, and conversely some eggs produced by black females produced yellow females.
The brilliant butterfly poised on the blades of grass on the left is the well known Red Admiral, familiar throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It belongs to the “Brush-footed” race. Below it a little Sulphur shows the inside of its wings. ”

“ Swallow-tails, 155 fritillaries, admirals, tortoise-shells, peacocks, orange-tips—all executed in at least a dozen novel and contrasted styles, with many even more beautiful, but bearing no resemblance to our British species—flitted in sunshine from flower to flower, glinted in the shadow of great trees, or clustered on the path to suck the moisture from any swampy patch. The butterfly is a dirty feeder, and if ever some piece of putrescent filth lay odorous on the ground, be sure it would be covered with a cloud of these greedy insects, come in such gay attire to eat such sorry meat. ”

“ Because the Swallow Tail is one of the largest kinds of butterflies in our whole territory, I knew Pop would be especially tickled if I could catch one for our collection, so I quick circled the house to the tool shed, swished in, swooped up Pop’s butterfly net—and in a jiffy later was out by the orchard fence where the most beautiful butterfly I had ever seen was acting like the nectar of that big Bull Thistle blossom was about the sweetest thing in the world to eat. ”

“ While the Black Swallowtail is not so large as some other members of the group, it is probably the best known to most people. It is found throughout many months of the year in practically all parts of North America south of Canada, and has the habit of flying freely about fields and gardens in search of flowers from which to suck its nectar food, and of plants on which to deposit its eggs. The female butterflies have a remarkable ability in selecting only members of the great family Umbelliferae for this purpose. ”

“ Even the adult butterflies of this species have to be on the lookout for enemies. During the long months of their life many of them probably succumb to the attacks of birds or other creatures. I have seen but one such tragedy. While riding along a country highway with a bird-loving friend one spring day we saw a male Maryland yellow-throat flit by with a Mourning-cloak in his mouth. The bird lit on a fence, from which I startled him so that he dropped the butterfly, a worn and faded, half-dead specimen. The places where the bird held the insect were indicated by missing pieces of the wings. ”

“ Why they and the empty chrysalis shell are all that remains of your cherished prize; so look no more for the fair sunny butterfly, devoured ere born by that ill-favoured troop of darklings who have just now issued from the lifeless shell.
The truth is, that long since, perhaps in early larva-hood, the creature's fate was sealed; a deadly enemy to his race is ever on the alert, winging about in the shape of a small black fly, in search of an exposed and defenceless caterpillar. ”

“ The introduction and spread of such a pest is of interest in itself, but in this case there is to be noted the additional fact that the presence of this foreigner has practically led to the extinction of two native species of butterflies, both closely related to each other and to the invader and both feeding upon the same plants. An almost pure white butterfly—the Gray-veined White—was formerly exceedingly abundant in many of the Northern states, while farther south there was another species, the Checkered White, which was also abundant. ”

“ Probably the form that from these many points of view has, up to the present, been studied with most care is that of the Swallow-tail, Papilio polytes. It is a common butterfly throughout the greater part of India and Ceylon, and closely allied forms, probably to be reckoned in the same species, reach eastwards through China as far as Hongkong. P. polytes is one of those species which exhibit polymorphism in the female sex. Three distinct forms of female are known, of which one is like the male, while the other two are very different. ”

“ Its reddish-orange colour, marked with yellow patches, black spots, and blue crescents, gives it a charming appearance as it sits on a flower, or even on the ground, with wings fully expanded to the sunlight. When the wings are closed up, however, the butterfly seems to disappear, as the under side of the wings is quite sombre in colour. The only bright spot on the under side is the yellowish central area of the fore wing, and when the wings are held erect over the insect's back this is not seen, but only the tips of these wings, which are of the same dull colour as the hind wings. ”

“ It has been noticed that many dangerous and distasteful insects are rendered conspicuous by their brilliant colors, and examples of this so-called warning coloration are not lacking among the butterflies. The Swallowtail caterpillars, which produce a very disagreeable odor, are usually marked by two great staring eye-spots on the back of the thorax. Some of the protected butterflies, such as the ill-smelling Zebra and Red Silverwing, are extraordinarily conspicuous by reason of striking color-combinations. ”

“ Now it lights on a great white head of wild carrot, or on a rose. Let us look at it. Its wings are black [Pg 143] and yellow. The black is in bands and streaks. It has six bluish spots on each lower wing, and one large red and blue spot. Its body is like black velvet. Each lower wing has a long, beautiful, curved tail.
The butterfly is an insect with far more beauty than sense. We may say it is an insect with very little brains. It has none of the wise ways of the ant, wasp, bee or spider; it only flies and eats, and lays eggs. It builds no house, stores no food, takes no care of its young. ”

“ The large semi-transparent butterfly, Idea tondana, flew lazily along by dozens, and it was here that I at length obtained an insect which I had hoped but hardly expected to meet with—the magnificent Papilio androcles, one of the largest and rarest known swallow-tailed butterflies. During my four days' stay at the falls, I was so fortunate as to obtain six good specimens. As this beautiful creature flies, the long white tails flicker like streamers, and when settled on the beach it carries them raised upwards, as if to preserve them from injury. ”

“ They are rather large and showy butterflies, orange and bluish on the upper side, with a very rapid flight, and frequenting dry forests. Their habit is to settle always where there is some dead or decaying foliage, and the shape and colour of the wings (on the under surface) , together with the attitude of the insect, is such as to produce an absolutely perfect imitation of a dead leaf. This is effected by the butterfly always settling on a twig, with the short tail of the hind wings just touching it and forming the leaf-stalk. ”

“ There, a rudimentary brain made its appearance, with large optic centres, answering to the far more perfect and important eyes of the future butterfly. For the flying insect will have to steer its way through open space, instead of creeping over leaves and stones; and it will have to suck the honey of flowers, as well as to choose its fitting mate, all of which demands from it higher and keener senses than those of the purblind caterpillar. At length one day the chrysalis bursts asunder, and the insect emerges to view on a summer morning as a full-fledged and beautiful butterfly. ”

“ The sap exuding from holes in bark made by woodpeckers, or from the tappings of the maple trees by man, the nectar of willow catkins, the moisture of roadside pools—these help to yield a precarious sustenance to these butterflies after their long winter fast. They remain upon the wing week after week, while spring slowly progresses in the northern regions they inhabit. When at last the leaves push out on their food trees—willow, birch, and elm—the females lay their eggs and then, having lived to what for a butterfly is a ripe old age, they die, after nearly ten months of adult existence. ”

“ None make a finer show in the cabinet, and few tempt pursuit more strongly than does this golden beauty when on the wing.
For many years past, and up to quite a recent period, the appearance of this butterfly in any abundance was a phenomenon only occurring at uncertain periods, separated by intervals of several years. In one season, perhaps, hardly a solitary specimen would be seen, and in the very next, a swarm of them would spread over the southern counties, delighting the fly-catcher and puzzling the naturalist to find a sufficient reason for {72}this sudden burst of insect-life. ”

“ Hence these composite flowers are great favourites with all insects whose suckers are long enough to reach the bottom of their slender tubes.
The butterfly's view of life is doubtless on the whole a cheerful one. Yet his existence must be something so nearly mechanical that we probably overrate the amount of enjoyment which he derives from flitting about so airily among the flowers, and passing his days in the unbroken amusement of sucking liquid honey. Subjectively viewed, the butterfly is not a high order of insect ”

“ You must often have noticed this very pretty insect flying about in the spring, for it is quite common in almost all parts of the country. And you cannot possibly mistake the male for any other butterfly, because of the large patch of orange-yellow at the tips of the front wings. But the female is without this orange patch, so that you might easily take her for one of the small white butterflies. ”

“ The fore wings have one white-pupilled black eye spot towards their tips, and the hind wings have three such eye spots on the outer area. The male has a long oblique patch of blackish scales on the middle of the fore wings, which is, perhaps, more easily detected if the insect is held up to the light. The female is usually slightly larger than the male, the wings rather rounder, and the yellowish spots, are, as a rule, distinctly larger. The typical or southern form of this butterfly has the spots of a tawny colour, but it does not occur in Britain. ”

“ Such are a few of the devices that ornament the earliest cradle of the butterfly; but probably those of every species would well repay their examination to any one who possesses a microscope.
Prompted by a most remarkable instinct, and one that could not have originated in any experience of personal advantage, the female butterfly, when seeking a depository for her eggs, selects with unerring certainty the very plant which, of all others, is best fitted for the support of her offspring, who, when hatched, find themselves surrounded with an abundant store of their proper food. ”

“ Among the scale-winged insects, however, carnivorous caterpillars are rare, seldom occurring among the moths and in hardly more than one species among the butterflies. This one exception is the modest-looking little butterfly fancifully called the Wanderer, perhaps because instead of frequenting the flowery fields where other butterflies congregate it wanders in and out among the alders by brooks and ponds, alighting oftener upon a leaf or twig than upon a flower—the latter apparently lacking for it the attraction it has for other butterflies. ”

“ For the making of a butterfly is one of the most wonderful phenomena in the outer world, and it has challenged the attention of many acute observers. Some two centuries ago the great Dutch naturalist, Swammerdam, studied very carefully the development of many insects, especially the butterfly. He found that if he placed in boiling water a caterpillar that was ready to pupate or become a chrysalis, the outer skin could easily be removed, revealing beneath the immature butterfly with well-developed legs and antennae. ”

“ The swallow-tail, under its form of butterfly, is not first small, then medium, then large. When, for the first time, it opens its wings and takes flight, it is as large as it ever will be. When it comes out from under ground, where it lived as a grub, when for the first time it appears in the daylight, the June bug is such as you know it. There are little cats, but no little swallow-tails nor little June bugs. After the metamorphosis, an insect is what it will be to the end. ”

“ But do not be discouraged if your first attempt to mount and arrange a butterfly is unsuccessful. The first butterfly will no doubt be a forlorn-looking creature, its wings twisted and broken. Persevere, and your fingers will soon become skillful, and you will arrange the wings as neatly as an experienced naturalist could do it.
The dark butterfly in the background of the engraving is an Archippus, and the large one in front, with bands crossing its wings, and with little tails on its hind-wings, is the Papilio turnus—a brilliant yellow butterfly marked with black and blue. ”

“ GUIDE TO BUTTERFLIES
By Samuel Hubbard Scudder.
22 uncolored plates, showing about 100 species.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST
By W. G. Wright.
32 colored plates, with figures of 487 species.
THE OPEN LETTER
There are no small things in Nature, whatever the text-books say. All things in life are large and important if we will but have them so. The terms “large” and “small” are simply relative. To the eye of the insect world the delicate butterfly is a monster with widespread wings that completely cover the sky. ”