54 • 



Edwards, who described it, and this agrees with the others), has 

 precisely that pupilled ocellus of Zohcaon. Not only that ; as 

 the pupil varies in Zolicaon, so do the pupils in all these spe- 

 cies vary. They are larger or smaller, circular or oval, or sub- 

 oval ; exactly in the centre, or a little out of centre. And about 

 one-third the examples of each species, where I have several, 

 show exactly the connection between the pupil and the rim 

 which Dr. Hagen calls attention to ; and it is usually in the female, 

 on the under side. On the plate ot Brevicauda, in But. N. A., 

 this peculiarity is shown on under side of male (f. 2). On the 

 plate o{ Bairdii the same is shown in both sexes. The rim runs 

 past the point of connection, which is on the middle of the side 

 on inner wing margin. And just as Zolicao7i agrees with the 

 Astcrias group in the pupilled ocellus, so does it in the black 

 cell. That is a special characteristic all through that group. So 

 all the Asterias group, unless it is Ameriais female, have the 

 body black. Indra has it wholly so, except that in the $ there is 

 a bit of yellow on side next last segment ; the female has an 

 indistinct stripe of same along the side, distinct at the end. 

 Asterias and Brevicauda and Bairdii have two and three rows of 

 yellow dots on either side of abdomen, which otherwise is black. 

 So does Aviericiis male show one of the same lines of spots, the 

 sub-dorsal, while the lower are suppressed. There it is! To get 

 the nearest ally of Zolicaon, in the matter of its three chief char- 

 acteiistics, we have to go to a group distinct from the Machaon, 

 and there we find not merely the same characters, but in the most 

 important of the three, the ocellus, exactly the same modification 

 of it. Plainly enough, Zolicaon has a close connection with the 

 Asterias gvowp, and it is open to assert that the two are descended 

 from a common type, which was characterized by a pupilled ocellus, 

 a black cell, and probably, by a black body. I do not think that 

 any one who believes in the derivation of existing species from 

 antecedent ones will refuse to admit that. The ocellus in Zoli- 

 caon tells its story as clearly as do the bars on the wing of a 

 pigeon. The different species of the Asterias group form one 

 branch, and Zolicaon, with perhaps Aviericiis, another branch, 

 from the same stem ; though it may well have been that at one 

 or more steps farther back, this stem and the one from which the 

 Machaon group descended found likewise a common ancestor. 

 But Zolicaon has no present relations with the MachaoJi group, 

 standing wholly apart from it. 



That Zolicaon has come to differ from the Asterias group in 

 respect to the yellow side-stripe is not more than might be ex- 

 pected if it branched off at all. This stripe would not originate 

 by the introduction of a new character, but by the modification of 

 one already there ; to wit, the two lines of yellow dots, one at the 

 verge of the dorsal area, the other on lower half of side. The side 

 stripe of Zolicaon occupies the space corresponding to that limited 



