C 184) 



if one can couilian- a larger series of imlividuals from tlie same loealily. one will 

 always find some wliieli exhibit the (li>tingnishing characters of several '• si)ecies,"' 

 and, tlierefore, belong strictly to neither of them. In the state <){ imago the variou.- 

 green Troldes and the blue urvillianuS show no constant characters which allow us 

 to draw exact parting lines between the " species." As the caterpillars and pujiae, as 

 far as we know them, also do not difi'er in any important points, it is beyond doubt 

 that the blue and all the green Troides are forms of one .-species, the oldest name of 

 which is T. priuiiius L. The yellow Troldes {croesus and lydius), however, which 

 some recent authors treat as being also varieties of T. priaiaas, will have to be 

 kept -eparate sjiecifically for reasons given below. 



J)r. Kickert, in his important paper in Zool. ■Jahrhiicher, 188'J (" Zciihnung>- 

 verliiiltnisse der (iattung Or«i</iop<e)"rt "), distinguishes the following local forms of 

 T. priaintis L. : — 



(1) " Ornithopteru '" priamus ].. ; (2) var. cassandrc Scott ; (o) var. riclDiioadia 

 Gray; (4) var. ev.pliwioii Gray; (J) var. (irriiatiri Feld. ; (6) var. pruiioinus Gray; 

 (7) var. cronms Keld. ; (8) var. peyamm F'eld. ; (9) var. poseidou Doubl. ; (10) var. 

 archideihs Gray ; (1 1) \ar. croesus Wall. ; ( 12) var. ii/dius Feld. ; (lo) \ar. nrviUia'iia 

 (iucr. 



Dr. Fickert's material has certainly not been large, though he tells us the 

 contrary (see p. 762, ^.c), else he would not have treated the "varieties" 4 

 to 10 as being separate local races. I must here be allowed to dilate somewhat 

 longer upon the characters of "0. jjriatnus var. nrruana," for example, which 

 Dr. Fickert calls a con.stant local form (I.e., p. 719), restricted to the Aru Islands. 

 He dislingui-shes arriKina e.specially 



(1) by the amount of green on the median vein of the forewings ; 



(2) by the costal green band of the forewings being of equal breadth ; 



(3) by tlie presence of four black spots on the hindwings ; 



(4) by the green patch of the cell of the ibrewings lieneatli occuiiying the 

 posterior half of the cell. 



Xow, besides Felder's typi'->pecimen, 1 have eleven iikiIch from the .\ru Islands 

 before me— not one of which is exactly identical with the tyjie — and these individuals 

 exhibit in respect to the characters enumerated above the following variation : — 



(1) In two specimens there are onlv a very few green scales upon the median 

 nervure; in a third individual (measuring only 03 mm. from the base to the tip of 

 the forewing) the extreme bases of the two lower iiicdian nervules ami the ]iartition 

 of the median nervure between these branches are green ; in three others the green 

 scaling is a little more extended along the median veins; in four individuals the 

 wliule median nervurr and the bases of the three median and lower discoidal nervules 

 are green ; and in two examples the ujiper median nrrvule i> entirely green from its 

 origin to the green submarginal band. 



(2) The costal green band varies in shape, as in specimens from otlier localities ; 

 none of the twelve males has the band of more equal breadth than many of my fifty 

 New Guinea specimens have. 



(3) The number of black spots on the hindwings varies from 2 to 4 : in my Xew 

 Guinea examples it varies from to 5. 



(4) The green jjatch in the cell of the forewings beneath occupies in one 

 individual not half the cell, in another three-quarters of the cell ; in some individuals 

 there is, besides that i>atch, a longitudinal narrow band behind the subcostal vein, in 

 other e.vamples the anterior portion of the cell i.« quite black. 



