RAISING SWALLOWTAILS 
     
    
   
   
    
     by Mrs. R. Louis Cairns, Lower Freetown, P. E. I. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     One fall I was surprised to discover a number of small black caterpillars 
     
    
   
   
    
     on my carrot tops. It was late for small caterpillars, unless these were from 
     
     a second brood. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Out of storage came my 
     
     gallon jar with its five cent- 
     
     imeters of soil, and into it 
     
     went a handful of carrot leaves 
     
     and a few caterpillars. Each 
     
     day they increased in size. 
     
    

    
     One day there was little act— 
     
     ivity and I realized they were 
     
     moulting. Soon the cater- 
     
     pillars were back at work on 
     
     the carrot tops, decked now in shiny black with white saddles across their 
     
     backs. I decided this must be the second or third instar. After another 
     
     rest period I looked again for the beautiful black larvae with their white 
     
     saddles but there were none to be seen. Suddenly a green striped head poked 
     
     itself around a carrot leaf and crawled into view. What a beauty! It was 
     
     a lovely green with black,;yellow—spotted bands around each segment. And 
     
     how these fellows gobbled up their food supply! 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     When the caterpillars dropped to the ground and lost interest in their 
     
     food, I removed all but a couple of carrot leaves and put in a few twigs. 
     
     The next morning some of the twigs had caterpillars anchored firmly by a 
     
     silk girdle. As time passed, the chrysallis took shape and hardened. One 
     
     had a greenish tinge, another was a soft buff. 
     
    
   
   
    
     During the winter I periodically sprinkled the cacoons with water and 
     
     in the spring set them into the light where they could be closely watched. 
     
     Gradually the chrysalles turned darker unti they weranearly black. One day 
     
     I could see a row of yellow dots showing t.rough the wall 
     
     and I knew emergence was near. 
     
    
   
   
    
     That night I was up every two hours, but each time 
     
     there was no change that I could see. At 5 a. m., I 
     
     sleepily crawled back into bed with "I'll see you in 
     
     half an hour." Two hours later I came to. Clinging to 
     
     the twig an inch above the chrysallis was a tiny black 
     
     body with two droopy balloon-like bags, each one black 
     
     with a row of yellow spots. The creature crawled upward 
     
     a few millimeters, clung and trembled, and then pulled 
     
     itself upward again. 
     
    
   
   
    
     By mid morning a beautiful black swallowtail butter- 
     
     ,fly clung to the twig lazily fanning its wings. The wings