800 ME. P. II. GOSSE ON THE CLASPING-ORGANS 



Papilio Ascalaphus, Boisd. (Plate XXVIII. figs. 27, 28.) 



Valve having the outline of the terminal half of a lemon cut obliquely. Interior 

 cavity very slightly fringed on the dorsal side alone, and that chiefly with hairs growing 

 from within ; umber brown with a dull satiny gloss. Harpe of the pattern of the 

 Memnon group, near to that of P. Dcij>hoi//cs; and, like that, serrated along the free 

 erect edge, the form, however, differing in detail, as shown in the figures (27, in situ 

 in the valve ; 28, removed, viewed from the ventral side, and further magnified). 



Uncus with a similar curve to that of P. Beiphontes, similarly clothed above, and 

 similarly keeled ; but not nearly so wiry, widening rapidly from the point. The 

 scaphivm is furnished with a thick white keel, whose descending rami behind — that 

 combine to embrace the penis, as a sheath for its basal portion — are so short that this 

 latter organ protrudes obliquely upward, its extremity appearing almost close beneath 

 the scaphium-keel*. The " double tooth " is very small, but distinct, erect, and curved 

 back. 



I have not yet found any two species so closely assimilated in the details of the 

 prehensile apparatus as Beiphontes and Ascalaphus; yet the differences here, if mostly 

 minute, are quite distinct. The radiating ridges of the valve, the marginal fringes, 

 the axe-head of the harpe, the scaphial keel, the scaphial double teeth, and the position 

 and direction of the penis, all present marked diversities of form and detail. 



I subsequently examined another specimen of Ascalaphus. It agreed with this one 

 in the minutest details, except that the tiny half-separated lobe at the point of the 

 harpe I could not find. This was, therefore, in all probability, accidental. 



Papilio Hllenus, Linn. (Plate XXIX. figs. 1-3.) 



We have in the valve of this species almost the very counterpart of Ascalaphus. The 

 harpe, in situ, looks different, indeed, because the extremity is not bent-over quite so 

 much, and the line of direction is more incurved in the middle. But, when it is viewed 

 separately, and from the side, it takes almost precisely the same form, broadly cres- 

 ecntic ; and its edge is, in like manner, serrated with excessively minute spines. 



So the abdominal apparatus is of the same type. The uncus, circularly curved, is ridged 

 above with still' hair. The scaphium is almost exactly on the pattern of P. Demoleits ; but 

 the double tooth more developed, high, slender, acute, incurved. Finally, the penis 

 has its more chitinous side uppermost, is dilated at the point, and is of considerable 

 thickness and length. 



Papilio Nephelus, Boisd., differs in nothing of importance. The harpe runs very 

 close to the ventral margin, but its form is exactly that of P. Ascalaphus. Scaphium 

 large, and its double teeth almost exactly as in P. Hclenus. 



Papilio Chaou, Westw., scarcely differs, but the harpe is not quite so close to the 

 ventral margin. 



■ Subsequent observations lead me to doubt whether the direction of this organ is a character of specific value — 

 whether it is not one of the conditions which vary at different times, even in the same individual. 



