PAPILIONIN.E. 197 



lace/ have treated it wiih more or less detail from tliis point of 

 view. 



Tropical South America is richest in these fine insects, and next 

 to it stands the Malayan Archipelago, the two regions together yield- 

 ing nearly half the known species. Tropical Asia is considerably less 

 productive, except along the Himalaya, having produced about seventy 

 species. The Ethiopian Eegion (including twelve from Madagascar 

 and the Mascarene Islands) has hitherto yielded sixty-two. In com- 

 parison with the foregoing, the Palrearctic and Nearctic Eegions and 

 the Australian continent are exceedingly poor, each producing under 

 twenty species. 



Nearly all the species of rapUlo are above the middle size, 

 and many of them very large butterflies. The smallest known kind 

 appears to be P. Triopas, Godt., from Cayenne and the Lower Amazons, 

 which expands rather under 2-^ inches ; while the largest, P. Antimachus, 

 Drury, from the Gaboon and Cameroons, measures 7^ to 9^ inches 

 across the wing. 



The African species are conveniently arranged in nine groups, repre- 

 sented by the following well-known species, viz., P. Podalirius, Linn, 

 (not Ethiopian ; — P. Policenes, Cram., typical in Africa), P. Lconidas, 

 Fab., P. Demolcus, Linn., P. Nireus, Linn., P. Mcrope, Cram., P. Hesperus, 

 Westw., P. Zenobia, Fab., P. Antcnor, Drury, P. Antimachus, Drury. 

 All but the last two groups have representatives in South Africa, and 

 may be distinguished as follows : — 



Group i. — Poliecncs, Cram., representative. Sexes alike. Head 

 broad, tufted frontally ; antenna short, with a thick abruptly-formed 

 club. Fore-wings very produced apically, so as to have a long hind- 

 margin and a short inner margin ; hind-wings very produced inferiorly, 

 and with a long, almost straight, sword-shaped tail on third median 

 nervule ; inner-marginal fold of hind-wings in $ often supporting a 

 long brush of radiating hair. Black, with common sub-basal stripes, 

 a discal macular band, and a submarginal row of spots, pale green. 



(Four species: P. Policenes, Cram., P. Antlicus, Cram., P. Porthaon, 

 Hewits, P. Coloiina, Ward.) 



Gkoup 2. — Lconidas, Fab., representative. Near Group i. Sexes 

 alike. Head broader ; antennae stouter, with broader more abruptly- 

 formed club. Fore-wings with apical portion much elongated, but 

 rounded off; hind-margin much more concave in middle; inner margin 

 considerably longer ; first branch of subcostal nervure very short and 

 slender, running into costal nervure. Hind-wings rounded, not (or but 



and exceedingly numerous sub-sections ; and the small value of some of these may be esti- 

 mated from the fact that the i Papilio Merope is placed in Sub-section C. of Section Iv., 

 while its ? , P. Ilippocoon, figures in Sub-section B. of Section Ivii. 



^ "On the Phenomena of Variation and Geographical Distribution, as illustrated by 

 the Papilionidw of the Malayan region" {Tra7is. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxv., 1865). 



