Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/114

104 PAP. PROTESILAUS.

PLATE IV. Fig. 1.

Linn. Fabr. Cramer, Pl. 202, fig. A, B; Merian's Insec. Surin. Pl. 43.

two insects delineated on the adjoining plate exemplify a form which prevails among a pretty extensive group of the genus Papilio, and which is familiar to European entomologists as represented in a very characteristic manner by the beautiful P. Podalirius. The prolongation of the hinder wings into a long narrow tail is the most striking feature, and has caused them to be termed swallow tails. The ground colour is for the most part pale,—light yellow, or green,—and the wings are marked with numerous transverse stripes of dark brown or black. They are not confined to any particular country, but are distributed over most regions of the globe, although the greatest number are found in Brazil and other parts of America. P. Protesilaus is one of the most common inhabiting the country just named. It expands nearly four inches; surface pale white, almost transparent, tinged with green at the base of the superior wings; the latter having seven narrow transverse black bands commencing at the anterior margin, the innermost five very short, the sixth descending