In all the experiments with _Ajax_, if any change at all has been
produced by cold, it is seen in the enlarging or doubling of the red
anal spot, and in the increased number of clear green lunules on the
hind wings. Almost always the frontal hairs are lengthened and the
colour of the wings deepened, and the extent of the black area is also
diminished. All these changes are in the direction of _Telamonides_, or
the winter form.
That the effect of cold is not simply to precipitate the appearance of
the winter form, causing the butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis
in the summer in which it began its larval existence instead of the
succeeding year, is evident from the fact that the butterflies come
forth with the shape of _Marcellus_, although the markings may be of
_Telamonides_ or _Walshii_. And almost always some of the chrysalides,
after having been iced, go over the winter, and then produce
_Telamonides_, as do the hibernating pupæ in their natural state. The
cold appears to have no effect on these individual chrysalides.[59]
With every experiment, however similar the conditions seem to be, and
are intended to be, there is a difference in results; and further
experiments--perhaps many--will be required before the cause of this
is understood. For example, in 1878, the first butterfly emerged on
the fourteenth day after removal from ice, the period being exactly
what it is (at its longest) in the species in nature. Others emerged
at 19-96 days. In 1879, the emergence began on the ninth day, and by
the twelfth day all had come out, except three belated individuals,
which came out at twenty, forty, and fifty-four days. In the last
experiment, either the cold had not fully suspended the changes which
the insect undergoes in the chrysalis, or its action was to hasten them
after the chrysalides were taken from the ice. In the first experiment,
apparently the changes were absolutely suspended as long as the cold
remained.
It might be expected that the application of heat to the hibernating
chrysalides would precipitate the appearance of the summer form, or
change the markings of the butterfly into the summer form, even if the
shape of the wings was not altered; that is, to produce individuals
having the winter shape but the summer markings. But this was not
found to occur. Mr. Edwards has been in the habit for several years of
placing the chrysalides in a warm room, or in the greenhouse, early in
the winter, thus causing the butterflies to emerge in February, instead
of in March and April, as otherwise they would do. The heat in the
house is 19° R. by day, and not less than 3.5° R. by night. But the
winter form of the butterfly invariably emerged, usually _Telamonides_,
occasionally _Walshii_.
EXPERIMENTS WITH PHYCIODES THAROS.
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