Releases and vagrants

[Michael Gochfeld]

To echo Ken Philips.....

In New Jersey the Giant Swallowtail and Zebra Swallowtail were formerly 
residents (at least marginally).  There are now no known colonies of 
either.  However, the former is recorded every few years.  Both are 
sold for raising and releasing by at least one vendor in the 
State. It would be a tossup whether a record was a legitimate wanderer 
or a local release.  These are sold not only to schools but to 
individual families at garden shows, etc, so it wouldn't be easy to 
track them down. 

Of course one could legitimately ask whether the benefits from 
turning-on some school children to butterfly life cycles might outweigh 
our need to establish the origin of a vagrant. 

We also have some recent records of southern vagrants (Julia) which 
started shortly after the opening of the excellent BUTTERFLY WORLD at 
the nearby Bronx Zoo.  Is this coincidence or did someone keep a door 
open too long?

M. Gochfeld