( 208 ) 



Tims we have to deal with three loeal races of the inesciil species, uamely : 



(a) : P. alciitoHS King from Japan ; 



(b) : P. alcviious inencius Feld. from China and the ].oo Choc Islands ; 



(c): P. alcinoiis lAxdonim Oberth. from Western China, (Thibet), and the 

 interior of the central and eastern parts of the Himala3'a. 



(u): P. alcinous King, forma typ. [J, 5 , larva, pupa]. 



I have measui-ed a good series of specimens, and find that there is a complete 

 gradation between the short and long-tailed individuals; if we take the length of 

 the forewing - 100, the hindwing (from the base to the tip of the tail) has a length 

 of from 110 to 12-4. ]5utler's /'. spathatua with long hindwings is, therefore, not 

 specifically distinct. According to Leech, the summer brood has longer tails than 

 the spring brood, but this seems not to be the rule. 



Front of the head black. 



c?. The hindwings are either entirely black above, or possess a series of more or 

 less distinct submarginal red sjxits, which vary in number from two to five. Below, 

 the submarginal spots are red or yellow with every intergraduate tint; the anterior 

 one is sometimes obsolete; the woolly scent-organ witlnn the abdominal fold is of 

 a blackish bistre colour (Ridgway, Nomencl. of Colours, pi. 3. n. G) ; it gradually 

 widens behind, where it has a breadth of about 5 mm. 



? . I have received from Japan only a pale form of this sex, and Leech says that 

 the/e»/ia7e is apparently constant in Japan. The submarginal spots on tlie underside 

 of the hindwings are often red, or partly so. 



Hcd>. Japan, as far north as Southern Gesso (42 <?, 16 ?). 



(6): P. alcinous mencius Feld. [J, ?]. 



Papilio alcinous, Doubl. Westw. & Hew. (nrc Klug, 183fi), Geii. Diurn. Lep. I. p. 9. n. 13 (184G) 



(China ; nee Japan) ; Oberth., Ei. d'Ent. IV. p. 42. n. 47 (1879) (" Moupin " ; haec siibs/i. 



veljilutonius?) ; id., I.e. p. 112. n. 47 (1879) (" Mandschourie," haec mb.iji. V) ; Leech, Tr. Ent. 



Soc. Loml. p. 115. n. C8 (1889) {i>.p.) ; id., BuWrJl. nf CViiiw, etc. p. 539 (1893) (p.p.; mc 



Japan). 

 Papilio alcinous var., Gray, Cat. Lep. Ins. B. M. I. p. 12. sub n. 45. t. 4. f. 3 (cj). 2 ( ? ) (1852) 



(Northern China) ; id., List Ltp. Ins. B. M. I. p. 14. sub n. 49 ( 18ot>) (China) : Horsf . & Moore, 



Cat. Lep. Ins. Mus. E. I. C. I. p. 95. sub n. 193 (1857) (Bhutan). 

 (J ?. Papilio mencius Felder, Wien. Ent. Man. VI. p. 22. n. 1 (18(i2) (Xingpo) ; id., Verh. z. b. Gel. 



Wicn p. 325. n. 480 (18(54) (Ningpo : Shanghai) : Oberth.. Et. d'Ent. II. p. 17 (1872) ; id.. I.e. 



IV. p. 42. n. 48 (1879) (Jloupin) : Elwes, P. Z. S. p. 872 (1881) ; Stauding. & Schatz, Exot. 



Schmctt. I. p. 8 (1884) (China) ; Seitz, Sm: Ent. X. p. 27 (1895). 



All the specimens from the Continent and the Loo Choo Islands have the front 

 of the head clothed with black and red hairs, the red ones being mostly prevailing 

 and never absent ; all the other characters in which viencius is said to differ from 

 (ilciiions are so highly inconstant that one cannot rely ujson them. The outer 

 margin of the forewings is conve.x, straight, or visibly concave ; the hindwings are 

 strongly or slightly indented, and vary in length, as in P. alcinoiis King, with every 

 intergradation between the long- and short-winged individuals, at least in the 

 females of my series.; the submarginal spots of the hindwings, which are never yellow, 

 are clearly marked on the npperside in either sex, or absent, especially in the male. 

 In Eastern and Central China the female is often of the same pale fawn-colour as 

 that sex of P. alcincnis, while other specimens from the same districts, and the 

 individuals from Western China, assume the darker colour of the male. 



