Help finding polyxenes

[Cheryl A. Heinz]

Hello, and sorry to anyone who might receive this request more than once!

I am a graduate student at Cornell University attempting to study the
oviposition behavior of the black swallowtail butterfly, _Papilio
polyxenes_. The problem is, the populations of the butterfly in the
immediate area appear to be declining, and it is no longer feasible to
reliably find butterflies locally, certainly not in high enough numbers to
consider collecting them for keeping a culture. I have managed to get
around this somewhat by collecting butterflies in central Illinois (near my
alma mater, the University of Illinois), but it's a 14 hour drive from
here, and I'd like to find some populations a bit closer to home.

As such, I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who knows of reasonably
reliable populations, mostly in the northeast, but also some more
midwestern areas, and even some southern areas, if the butterflies are
flying fairly early. (I would possibly be interested in trying to head
south during spring break, for instance, to try to get a head start on my
field season in years to come. ) I guess the region I'm mostly looking for
would cover eastern Connecticut and Massachusetts through Vermont and New
Hampshire, anywhere in New York, southern Ontario, northern Pennsylvania,
northern Ohio, southern Michigan, Indiana, northeastern Illinois, and
southwestern Wisconsin. (Although not all of this is necessarily within
close driving distance of central New York, I have family in the Chicago
area, as well as in southeastern Michigan and central Indiana, who wouldn't
mind me visiting more often.)

I can be reached by email at this address, by telephone at (607) 254-4287
(Feeny laboratory) or (607) 756-9339 (home), or by mail at Comstock Hall,
Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY  14853. I would
also be more than willing to discuss any aspect of my work further with
anyone!

Thanks!
Cheryl

Cheryl A. Heinz                                            cah13 at cornell.edu
Field of Entomology                      Section of Ecology and Systematics
Cornell University                                         Ithaca, New York
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/cah13/