MONARCH BUTTERFLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 2, 3 July 1939, Page 7

MONARCH BUTTERFLY

HANDSOME STRANGER

INTERESTING EXHIBIT

An interesting and instructive exfcVoit featuring the monarch butterfly xs on display in a shop window in and has been attracting much attention. This display is not a commercial one, and is shown only to create interest in this beautiful butterfly. The insect is entirely harmless. Hearing that monarch butterflies were being bred and liberated by Mr. T. S. Sceates, of Titirangi. Mr. F. Anderson, who is a chemist, wrote to Mr. Sceates. He received in return, free of charge, a wealth of information concerning the insects, together with carefully-mounted specimens o~ the male and female, the caterpillar, and the chrysalis, three live insects in chrysalis form, and samples and seeds of the butterfly's favourite plant. The central feature of the exhibit which he was able to arrange from this material is a three-day-old butterfly, which remains perched on a large branch of its favourite swanplant. From time to time it moves to the flowers on the branch, in order to draw sustenance. In its early stages, the insect lives almost entirely on this plant, which holds a thick, milk-like fluid. The plant is an at-tractive-looking one, and Mr. Sceates in promoting the growing of it as a £ood for the monarchs as well as for its own beauty. LIVE INSECTS. Prominent also in the window is the second of the three cocoons, a roughly cylindrical green object about threequarters of an inch long. Around its upper part is an evenly-spaced circle composed of tiny golden dots, and other dots form a pattern on its lower circumference. These are apparently part of a protective colouring designed to-create an impression of metallic hardness. Otherwise the insect at this stage is completely defenceless against birds and other enemies. In the course of the next few days this chrysalis will change its colour :./om green to grey, then to blue, then to red, and finally to jet black just before the emergence of the butterfly. The butterfly in its final stage has a life of over three months. The mounted specimens, which are under glass, are very fine ones, and Mr. Anderson intends to present them to the Petone Central School, which is taking a great interest in the emergence of the butterflies. A REMARKABLE INSECT. The monarch butterfly is a most remarkable insect, for by its own efforts it has travelled almost all over the world from its equatorial habitat. These insects have been seen on the wing as far as 300 miles out to sea. The wings are exceptionally powerful, and.have a spread of four inches. Their most important necessity is the swanplant, from which the caterpillar draws nourishment. \ An eminent American authority has written a book on this butterfly alone, and states that he could easily write another without covering old ground. The monarch, however, is comparatively rare, hence Mr. Sceates's repeated injunction: "Never kill a monarch." Mr/ Sceates is entirely unaided in his self-imposed task of breeding and liberating monarchs. He is pre--pared to send chrysalises and seeds of the swan-plant to anyone who asks for; information. Schools are becoming very interested in the work, and Mr. Anderson has pictures of pupils of St. Cuthbert's College, the Seddon Memorial Technical College, and the Hamilton Technical College releasing numbers of monarchs in public parks. That the monarch butterfly is an enemy of the white butterfly is a popular misconception. It is purely ornamental and, as far as anyone knows, does no harm and no particular good. As its diet appears to be strictly limited, its spread in New Zealand is not regarded as in any ;way. a danger.