Genus Parnassius 
The wings are generally translucent on the margin, with a rounded 
apex. The upper radial is lacking. The subcostal is five-branched, 
the third, fourth, and fifth nervules being 
emitted from a common stalk which 
springs from the upper outer angle of the 
cell. The first subcostal nervule rises 
well before the end of the cell; the second 
from the same point from which the stalk 
which bears the other three nervules 
springs. The cell of the hind wing is 
evenly rounded at its outer extremity. 
The inner margin of the hind wing is 
more or less excavated. 
Early Stages .—The egg is turban¬ 
shaped, flattened, profusely covered 
with small elevations, giving it a sha- 
greened appearance. The caterpillars 
have very small heads. They are flat¬ 
Fig. 149;—Neuration of the 
genus Parnassius. 
tened, having a somewhat leech-like appearance; they are black 
or dark brown in color, marked with numerous light spots. The 
chrysalis is short, rounded at the head, and pupation takes place 
on the surface of the ground, among leaves and litter, a few loose 
threads of silk being spun about the spot in which transformation 
occurs. 
The butterflies of this genus are classified with the Papilioni- 
nce, because of the fact that the internal vein of the hind wings is 
always wanting, a characteristic of all papilionine genera. 
(i) Parnassius clodius, Menetries, Plate XXXIX, Figs. 7, 9, 
$ ; Figs. 8, 10, $ (Clodius). 
Butterfly .—The species may be distinguished from the follow¬ 
ing by the uniformly larger size and the more translucent outer 
margins of the fore wings in the male. Expanse, $, 2.50-2.75 
inches; ? , 2.50-3.00 inches. 
Early Stages .—These await study. The egg and young larva 
were described by W. H. Edwards in the “Canadian Entomolo¬ 
gist,” vol. xi, p. 142, but we have no account of the later stages. 
The caterpillar feeds on Sedum and Saxifraga. 
Clodius is found upon the mountains of California in spring 
and early summer. It is, like all its congeners, an alpine or boreal 
species. 
.P5 
