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36
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Reinthal: Papilio pumping
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Vol.17: no.l
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Although two children ran by almost striking the insect, it only flipped its wings once and went on with the sucking. Encouraged by this unperturbed attitude, I moved even closer so that my last observations were made from a distance of few inches only. If two noisy boys had not jumped out of the pool and scared away the butterfly, it seems that the above described activity of the papilionid would have continued beyond my twenty minutes of observation. Even then, it flew around for a while seemingly looking for more water, and actually sat down at another wet spot where it started sucking again. This lasted only a short while until the insect was disturbed again and flew over a fence.
The causes for this strange behavior are not fully understood, but apparently it was not only the intake of water to satisfy the insect's thirst. It appeared as if the insect had to give itself a sort of internal lavage, syphoning the water through its body, retaining none or very little and trying to eliminate with the water some waste product from its body.
The exact time of this observation was from 6:00 to 6:30 P.M. The weather was warm but not hot nor particularly humid, about 74° F. at that time, with partly cloudy skies. The observation site was a country club's large swimming pool at the city limits of Knoxville, Tennessee.
4026 Sequoyah Ave., Knoxville 19, Tenn., U. S. A.
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ADDITIONAL NOTE ON FOOD PLANT OF SPHINX KALMIAE
In the Journal (vol.15: p.64; 1961) I reported a food plant of Sphinx kalmiae J. E. Smith to be Diervilla lonicera. The third of August 1961 I took a kalmiae from which I secured 138 eggs. The young larvae took readily to Diervilla. As the supply of this plant was somewhat limited, a search was made for a substitute. Fortunately I found two larvae and three eggs of kalmiae on what is locally known as Mountain Holly (Nemopanthus mucronatus) which grows commonly in the area around Hazelhurst, Wisconsin. The young larva took readily to the new food plant and in the process of supplying the food I found several larvae and eggs of kalmiae. I also found a larva and egg on Diervilla lonicera. This establishes the voluntary selection of these food plants. I have a feeling that mucronatus is the preferred one. The moth has a more extended period of flight than any of the other local sphingids, being on the wing from early June till the middle of September. The identity of Nemopanthus mucronatus was determined for me by the Milwaukee Museum through the kindness of Mr. J. R. Neidhoefer of Milwaukee.
H. M. Bower, 601 Mclndoe St., Wausau, Wis., U. S. A.
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