The last brood of caterpillars, however, change to chrysalids which do
not disclose the butterflies until the following spring. And then the
first that come out are the Marcellus form and the last the
Telamonides form. So we may have these two forms maturing from the
same brood of autumn caterpillars.
This seems a sufficiently complicated life-history to suit the most
persistent solver of puzzle problems, but there is an additional
factor which adds much to the possible confusion of the broods. In
each brood of caterpillars from the earliest to the latest there are a
certain number of chrysalids which remain dormant through the
remainder of the season and the following winter, maturing into
butterflies the next spring. Consequently at the end of every winter
there are a miscellaneous lot of chrysalids which represent every
brood of caterpillars that lived the previous season, and all of these
develop into either Marcellus or Telamonides butterflies.
Such a condition of affairs certainly represents what an old New
Englander would be likely to call a "mixed-up mess," and it is
difficult for science to find rhyme or reason to explain it. It speaks
eloquently for the perseverance of W. H. Edwards that he was able with
infinite patience through years of study and experiment to untangle
this intricate web of butterfly existence.
While the preferred food plant of this species is papaw, the
caterpillars are also known to feed upon the spice bush and upland
huckleberry. When full grown these caterpillars are about two inches
long and of a general pea-green color, banded transversely with yellow
and black, and having an especially conspicuous band of this sort on
the third ring behind the head. The scent organs are protruded when
the larva is disturbed and emit an offensive odor. The chrysalids are
green or brown according to the surroundings.
The Zebra Swallowtail is a southern butterfly found as far west as
Texas and the Rocky Mountains and having its northern limits in a zone
ranging approximately from Massachusetts to Nebraska. It is especially
abundant in the Southern states east of the Mississippi River.
Mr. S. F. Denton found this species abundant in southern Ohio where
the females laid their eggs upon the small papaw bushes. They selected
the leaves of these bushes for sleeping quarters, "clinging to the
under side of the leaves where early in the morning they might be
taken with the fingers."
_Other Swallowtails_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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