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1957
The Lepidopterists* News
35
UNUSUAL ABUNDANCE OF
CELERIO GALII INTERMEDIA (SPHINGID/E)
IN NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO JN 1954
by J. C. E. Riotte, P.P.
The Entomologische Zeitschrift had in the 1951 volume, pp. 50-55, 63-64, and in the 1955 volume, pp. 161-166, reports about unusual abundant appearance of Celerio galii Rott. in Thuringia in 1949 and around Nuremberg in 1950 and its slow disappearance in the following years. We read there that in 1949 the galii caterpillars appeared in hundreds of thousands and more or less unparasitized, that in the following years the parasites took over again, and that in 1952 in Thuringia and in 1953 around Nuremberg the circumstances were normal again. It is perhaps interesting to point to the fact that here in northwestern Ontario we had an unusual abundance of galii intermedia Kby. caterpillars also around 1950, namely in 1954.
Normally it is possible every year to take some caterpillars of the said species, the more so as Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium, grows everywhere in the woods up here. Also at the "black light" it is possible to take every year some adults of this species. But when in 1954 we found the caterpillars wherever Epilobium grew, it was certainly an unusual event. Although there were not hundreds of thousands, I would have been able to take, say, a good hundred on a spot of about 100 square yards in the woods near Nakina, Ontario. As I often have to be out of town, 1 took only 15 of them and observed their further development. This number was increased by 7 caterpillars from Geraldton, Ont., where there were also lots of them; one even brought them in nolens volens with the daily food plants.
Now, what was the result of that? As it was reported in the Ent. Zeitschrift 1955 for the second and the following year, so we discovered it here in Ontario the very first year. Most of the caterpillars did not become imagoes. Part of them were sick and died before pupating, and in ;he field we also found very often the dried skins of dead galii intermedia caterpillars hanging from the Epilobium twigs as if they had died from flacherie. In this way 8 out of my 22 caterpillars died. The rest showed 6 fly infested pupae and 2 dried out pupae, so that there were by the end only 6 moths out of 22 caterpillars: 27.3%.
The same result seems to have taken place in the field, where galii intermedia in 1955 showed thoroughly normal conditions. In the place at Nakuia, Ont., where the caterpillars were so abundant in 1954 there were none in 1955, and at Geraldton, Ont., I had 7 caterpillars from Epilobium growing in the sewer-ditch near my house and only one was found in the woods despite many efforts. (Among the "sewer-ditch" caterpillars were three covered with tachinid parasite eggs which I operated away holding the caterpillar under the tap so that the green juice the caterpillars are spitting when disturbed could flow away. All three pupated, but two pupae died, one is still alive. The dead pupae showed no signs of fly infestation.)
36
Riotte: Celerio galii
Vol.11: nos.1-3
So perhaps we have here a parallel to the abundance of galii in central and southern Germany in the early fifties, and that from the eastern Canada and in the early fifties, too.
278 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ont., CANADA
AN UNUSUAL ABERRATION OF PAPILIO MACHAON A LI A SKA
by Colin Wyatt
On June 22nd, 1955, I found Papilio machaon aliaska Scudder flying in glades among the poplars behind the front edge of a long, flat-topped hill about two miles north of Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie River, on the Arctic Circle. They were flying high over the tree-tops, then swooping down into the glades and circling around about ten feet from the ground. Among the series
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of males captured was one extraordinary aberration, which appeared almost black upon the wing. This is the first time I have met with any aberration of P. machaon over many years experience of the species in many parts of the world. I figure it here together with a normal P. m. aliaska for comparison.
Cobbetts, Farnham, Surrey, ENGLAND