AUGUST 25, 2016 // 23
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Papilio zelicaon
Anise swallowtail
By LYNETTE RAE MCADAMS
Common throughout the
western regions of North
America, the anise swallow-
tail butterfl y enjoys lots of
open space and is usually
spotted near fi elds, sparse
hillsides, wide country roads,
or sizable backyard gardens.
Mostly yellow, and spanning
about three inches wide, this
FINDING THE
FLOWERS OF
THEIR CHOICE
IS EASY: THEIR
EYES ARE
MADE UP OF
MORE THAN
6,000 LENSES.
colorful fl ier has broad bands
of black edging on both sets
of wings, with magnifi cent
blue spotting on the hind set
and two red “eyes” near the
insect’s characteristic “tails.”
Like all butterfl ies (there
are 20,000 species), this
swallowtail (one of 550 in
the swallowtail family), has
a life cycle that has capti-
vated humankind since the
earliest times. In the fi rst
stage, eggs are laid singly
on the undersides of plants,
secured with a glue-like
substance secreted by the
female.
Host plants are chosen
for their suitability to provide
PHOTO BY LYNETTE RAE MCADAMS
An anise swallowtail butterfl y, Papilio zelicaon, rests on a plant
on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula.
food when eggs hatch; here
on the coast, swallowtails are
partial to wild fennel (hence
the “anise” name) and cow
parsnip.
The tiny caterpillar that
emerges from an egg begins
to eat and grow immediately.
Over the course of fi ve to 10
days, it will increase in size so
rapidly that it must shed its
skin repeatedly, revealing a
diff erent look at every turn.
After the fourth shedding,
it seeks out a safe place —
usually a leaf or twig — and
attaches itself with home-
spun silk, shedding its outer
layer a fi nal time to uncover a
tough, case-like skin called a
chrysalis.
Inside the living chrys-
alis, all the tissues of the
caterpillar are fully liquifi ed,
then biologically recycled
into the fi nal phase of life: a
fully grown, winged adult
butterfl y.
Anise swallowtail
butterfl ies eat only liquids,
consuming fl ower nectar
and, occasionally, water
from mud puddles rich in
minerals. To eat, they unfurl
a long tubelike structure,
called a proboscis, that works
like a straw to draw liquids
upward. Finding the fl owers
of their choice is easy: Their
eyes are made up of more
than 6,000 lenses, and they
can even detect color in the
ultraviolet spectrum, a realm
invisible to humans.
Famous for its color, P.
zelicaon’s wings are actually
clear or translucent; the
striking patterns and brilliant
hues we see are made by the
refl ection of millions of tiny
scales that cover the wings
and rub off like dust. Using
its wings as solar panels, this
butterfl y heats its body to
the necessary 85 degrees
required for fl ight and is
known to reach speeds up to
10 mph.
Though you don’t see it
often, a group of butterfl ies
is called a “fl utter.”
Antlers taken by Hunter S. Thompson
return to Ernest Hemingway home
By KEITH RIDLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Gonzo
journalist Hunter S. Thompson
went to Idaho to write about
literary icon Ernest Heming-
way and decided to take a
piece of his hero home with
him — a set of trophy elk
antlers.
More than half a century
later, the antlers have been
returned.
“One of the stories that
has often been told over the
years is the story of Hunter S.
Thompson taking the antlers,”
said Jenny Emery Davidson of
Ketchum Community Library.
“These are two great literary
fi gures who came together
over the item of the antlers.”
Davidson was there on
Aug. 5 when Thompson’s
widow, Anita Thompson,
gave back the antlers she
says her husband regretted
taking. Hemingway’s house in
Ketchum is owned by The Na-
ture Conservancy, which has
an agreement with the library
to help catalog and preserve
items in the residence where
the author took his life.
In 1964, Hunter Thompson,
then 27, came to Ketchum
when he was still a conven-
tional journalist. He had not
yet developed his signature
style, dubbed gonzo journal-
ism, that involved inserting
himself, often outrageously,
into his reporting and that
propelled him into a larger-
than-life fi gure.
Thompson was writing a
story for the National Observer
about why the globe-trotting
Hemingway shot and killed
himself at his mountain-town
home three years earlier at
age 61. Thompson attributed
the suicide in part to rapid
changes in the world that led to
upheavals in places Heming-
CHRISTINA JENSEN/THE COMMUNITY LIBRARY VIA AP
Anita Thompson, Assistant Regional History Librarian for The
Community Library, left, is joined by Library Executive Director
Jenny Emery Davidson, middle, and Program Manager Scott
Burton as they pose with trophy antlers while returning them
to the former home of writer Ernest Hemingway.
way loved most — Africa and
Cuba.
Even Ketchum, which in
the 1930s and 1940s attracted
luminaries such as Gary Coo-
per, had fallen off the map of
cafe society by the late 1950s,
Thompson wrote.
In the story, later collected
in his book “The Great Shark
Hunt,” he noted the problem of
tourists taking chunks of earth
from around Hemingway’s
grave as souvenirs. Thompson
aimed higher.
Early in the piece, he writes
about the large elk antlers over
Hemingway’s front door but
never mentions taking them.
For decades, the antlers
hung in a garage at Thomp-
son’s home near Aspen,
Colorado.
Davidson said they made
their way back to Idaho after
historian Douglas Brinkley,
who spoke at the library in
May and was familiar with the
antler story after interviewing
the writer, contacted Anita
Thompson. She called the
library on Aug. 1.
“She gave a little back-
ground about the antlers
and said she’d love to return
them,” Davidson said.
They have since been
shipped to a Hemingway
grandson in New York who
wanted them, she said. It’s not
clear if the antlers came from
an elk killed by the author,
who was a noted big game
hunter, or if they were a gift.
Anita Thompson and Sean
Hemingway didn’t respond
to emails or phone messages
seeking comment from The
Associated Press.
Not long after the visit to
Hemingway’s house, Thomp-
son developed the journalism
style that took him into the
dangerous world of the Hells
Angels motorcycle gang and
would make him famous.
Like Hemingway, Thomp-
son ended his own life by
shooting himself, dying in 2005
at age 67 at his Colorado home.