154 • 



figure shows a dwarf expanding 55 mm.) "the black bands and 

 spots are larger; the orange spots on the under side of the hind 

 wings are rarely seen in a well-developed imago." Ver Huell 

 declared this imago to be P. sphyrus Huebn. 



The collection of the museum has a similar dwarf from 

 Switzerland (length of upper wing 30 mm., in Ver Huell's figure 

 only 28 mm.); but Ver Huell's description does not mention two 

 very important characters represented in the figure ; the basal 

 half of the cell on the under side of the primaries is black and 

 their sub-marginal band suddenly diminished before reaching 

 the costal-margin. The statement of the rare appearance of the 

 orange spots in the imago is not true, after the specimens before 

 me. 



The same volume of the Tidschr has a paper by Mr. M. C. 

 Verloren, " Observations sur le P. inathaon^' p. 90-108, which 

 has been also entirely overlooked. The paper is the first, as far 

 as I know, in which the influence of the cold temperature on the 

 colors is acknowedged. Mr. Verloren observed many varieties in 

 the coloration of the caterpillars ; the black caterpillar is the most 

 remarkable one. The black color replaces the green main color 

 entirely ; only some faint dorsal lines and some irregular 

 green spots on the sides are left. The black variety belongs to 

 the spring generation of the imago, at the beginning of the fall 

 being rare, it becomes later dominant. The imago belonged to 

 P. spJiynis. The paper contains besides many interesting obser- 

 vations not used by later Lepidopterologists. 



I have never seen P. sphyrus (figured by Huebner, I, 155, p. 

 77^-77^-) from Europe. Huebner's figure represents, indeed, a ■ 

 real viacJiaon, in size and colors exactly like the var. asiatica from 

 the Himalaya. 



Mr. Dutreux, Stett. E. Zeit., XV., p. 320, in his abridged trans- 

 lation of Ghiliani's paper on P. hospiton states, that P. sphyrus is on 

 the whole similar to P. hospiton; the blue band above the orange 

 spot is just as in P. viacJiaon and not separated from the orange 

 by a black border as in P. hospiton. I have only one specimen of 

 P. hospiton before me, and I agree that it is a very exaggerated 

 variety of P. viachaon. Nevertheless, there exist more promi- 

 nent differences, except the one quoted by Ghiliani between P. 

 hospiton and P. machaon. The tails are excessively short, 2 mm.; 

 the black band of the hind wings is much larger, covering nearly 

 the outer half of the wing and reaching very nearly the cell. 

 Nevertheless, the nervures in the basal yellow half are consider- 

 ably less black than in the primaries and even less than com- 

 monly in P. macJiaon ; the hairs of the abdomen and of the anal 

 border of the hind wings are longer and more numerous ; the 

 under side of all wings differs even more, the basal part of the 

 cell of the primaries is black ; the marginal black band of all wings 

 shew between every two nervures a black elliptical curve, and the 



