Observations for May 16th 1999

[yanb]

Observations for today, May 16th :
_Celastrina ladon lucia_ f._marginata_ : 1 male, 2 females
      "           "        "    f. _lucia_ : 1 female
_Celastrina ladon lucia_ (unidentified) : 3
_Crassiuscula sp_. :  Several... (10-15)
_Artogeia rapae_ : 2 males, 1 female
_Artogeia napi oleracea_ winter form 1 (male I think)
_Papilio polyxenes asterius_ : 6 males, 1 female, 1 unable to catch
Polygonia sp. : 1 (unable to catch but probably _progne_ or maybe
_faunus_)
3 specimen of some sort of Geometridae (Help identifie it!!)--> Green,
about 3/4 inches wide and few pale lines on hindwings
3-4 _Ctenucha virginica_ larvae

Today's temperature was way above normal again ( max : 27°C, normal
15°C...).  It was a beautiful time to go out and catch some
lepidoptera!  One observation that can be remarkable in a way is that I
caught almost the same numbers of _Papilio polyxenes asterius_ today
that for the past 3 years!!  Here, in St-Fabien, the population of this
butterfly dropped on a significant way the past 3 or 4 years.  I'm not
able to attribute this "dropping" to something.  Maybe it's the natural
cycle of this specie...Anyway...
Also, I observed that this same specie has a "strange" behavior : Even
if the population was very low the past years, I was able to catch some
specimen on a hill, always the same one, about 50-75 m high, and it was
almost always males!!!  Today, it's the same : about 6-7 males for 1
female.  Is it where males spot females or it's just a coincidence?
Other caracteristics of this hill : low grass (for cows) a little bit
more windy than the rest of the habitat, there's no sign of some sort of
Papilio polyxenes asterius host plants...

Answers needed!!!

Yan