SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIES — CLARK 401 



with a single short tail on each hind wing, short antennae, and a 

 densely hairy body. They fly in early spring, sometimes while there 

 is still snow on the mountain sides. Their flight is slow and weak. 

 They are usually common wherever they occur. 



From Vladivostock to beyond Shanghai and westward to Sze- 

 chuan, common everywhere in the Yangtse Valley, there lives a very 

 pretty butterfly {Seridnus telamon^ pi. 3, fig. 8). This occurs in 

 about 10 local races, in each of which the spring and summer broods 

 differ from each other. All the forms of this butterfly are very 

 local, but they are usually abundant wherever they are found. They 

 have a slow, uncertain flight and are fond of flowers. They appear 

 in spring, and again as a larger form with longer tails in the middle 

 of the summer. 



Very closely allied to the species of Seridnus are the four species 

 of the genus Thais (pi. 4, figs. 10, 11), which live from the Mediter- 

 ranean countries eastward to Iran. These are rather smaller but- 

 terflies than the preceding, with stouter bodies and scalloped, but 

 not tailed, hind wings. 



These butterflies have only one brood, which appears in early 

 spring. They frequent sminy slopes, especially rocky hills, vine- 

 yards, and the borders of woodlands, and are locally common. In 

 some places in Asia Minor they appear in enormous numbers. They 

 are fond of flowers, and especially of yellow composites. Abnor- 

 mally colored individuals are common, and some of these color 

 aberrations are very local. 



Resembling medium-sized and highly colored parnassians are the 

 very varied local forms of Archon apoUonius (pi. 7, figs. 26, 27), 

 which in some ways is intermediate between the species of Thais 

 and the species of Parnassius. This butterfly is found from Asia 

 Minor to the Caucasus and Iran, flying in early spring. Its flight 

 is slow and hesitating. Like all its relatives, it is fond of flowers. 



In its size, in the shape of its wings, and in its color appearing 

 much more like a pierid than like a swallowtail, though suggesting 

 certain species of Parnassius^ is the curious Hypermnestra helios 

 (pi. 3, figs. 6, 7), which in several different forms is found in Tur- 

 kestan and northern Iran. It is found in early spring on steep 

 and sunny slopes, and in suitable localities it is rather common. The 

 flight is slow and vacillating, and the insects often pause to feed 

 on flowers. 



THE PARNASSIANS 



Next to Papilio^ the largest and most important of the genera 

 included in the family of swallowtails, or Papilionidae, is Parnas- 

 sius (pi. 4, figs. 12, 13 ; pi. 5, figs. 15, 16) , including the parnassians 

 proper. The species of Parnassius number slightly over 40. Nearly 



