( IfiS ) 



I nuist here express my grateful thauks to all tliose who have so generously 

 assisted me, both with their knowledge and by plaeing their collections at my 

 disposal. Besides those mentioned above, I must also express my thauks to 

 !Mr. C. Oberthur, Mr. J. Rfiber, Dr. Otto Staudinger, and many others for most 

 invaluable helj). 



The delimitation and definition of genera can only be carried out by the study 

 and comparison of the whole of the species of a family from every part of the globe ; 

 tlierefore in this article I have merely divided the species into preliminary groups, 

 many of which may however be the foundation of corresponding genera, to be defined 

 in my final paper. As I have not in this article separated the genera, it will no 

 doubt strike some people that, although I am such a strong advocate for strict 

 priority and synonymy, I have contradicted myself by leaving several species of 

 /'apil/o under the same specific name : this is, however, only done with a view of 

 simplifying my future work ; for all these cases will finally right themselves when the 

 species come to be separated aud enumerated under their jjroper generic designa- 

 tions. I have in this article made one exception in regard to the group of Pajiilios 

 known universally under the generic name of Ornithoptera ; this I have done more 

 for the sake of the general entomologist than from a justifiable scientific reason. 

 1 have, however, treated them under the head of Troir/i's, a genus of Hiibner's which 

 has the priority over Boisduval's Ornitlioptera by a numl)(M' of years. 



Introductory Notes. — The jirincijial object of tliis revision is to identify the 

 hitherto described Eastern Papilios and to delimitate the species, not to give 

 detailed descriptions of the insei'ts dealt with, which would be the oltject of a 

 monograph. As the results of our investigations often differ from those of other 

 entomologists, it is necessary to give a short account of the method of our researclies, 

 the means upon which they arc based, and of our views with regard to nomenclature 

 and variation of the Papilios. 



Anybody who first makes the acquaintance of the numerous Eastern Pajiilios 

 will be startled not only with the relatively enormous number of different forms, but 

 especially with the great inconstancy of those characters by which tlie so-called 

 " species " used to be and are distinguished. He will be greatly astonished at the 

 extensive varialiility of the shape and pattern of the wings. When I began to study 

 the Papilios more closely under Mr. Walter Rothschild's guidance, I was indeed 

 first inclined to think that a revision of these confusingly variable insects could 

 hardly be more than an unsuccessful attempt at identifying and classifying the 

 " species " and " varieties," and of enumerating the more or less correctly identified 

 forms in a manner similar to that carried out by the Felders in 18(54. But as we 

 soon found that most of the mistakes in the articles dealing with the butterflies of 

 the ludo-Australian Regions occurred in consequence of tlie respective authors 

 having worked with too small a material, or not having compared carefully the 

 descriptions of the older writers, or not having been able to identify Felder's 

 " species," we became convinced that many of the errors could be avoided with the 

 help of long series of specimens, a good library, and the Felderian types. 



Notwithstanding thatthe Tring Museum contains of most species greater numbers 

 of specimens than entomologists usually keep in their collections, aud though we 

 have compared the examples in the collections of the gentlemen named above, the 

 uuiteria! examined by us is in some cases still quite insufficient for the purposes of 

 this paper. Specimens without or with " dealer's " locality are worthless for our 



