402 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 5 



all of them are very variable locally and individually, so that many 

 hundreds of local races and varieties already have been named. 



Except in the British Isles, parnassians are found everywhere in 

 Europe in the mountain regions, living from moderate altitudes up 

 to the highest limit of possible existence. Eastward they are found 

 everywhere in Asia southward to the cold high altitudes of the 

 Himalayas in northern Indian, and, passing over to Alaska, they 

 occur in the mountain region of western North America southward 

 to New Mexico, where 4 species and about 50 forms are recognized. 



Preeminently alpine butterflies are the parnassians, preferring the 

 colder regions of the higher altitudes. In Asia they live up to more 

 than 20,000 feet, or more than 3% miles, above the sea. They occur 

 in the greatest variety and abundance in the Himalaya Mountains and 

 thence northward to the mountains of Turkestan, Tibet, and western 

 China. Here are found the largest and the smallest. The most 

 beautiful are from the mountains of northern India, where alone 

 these insects have two broods a year. Although parnassians live in 

 the very coldest portion of the world, in central eastern Siberia, none 

 of them are found so far north as the Arctic Circle, although some 

 approach it rather closely in Europe, in Asia, and in Alaska. Our 

 common and familiar yellow swallowtail {Pa/pilio glaucu^, pi. 8, fig. 

 30) in central Alaska ranges much farther north than any of the 

 parnassians, passing well beyond the Arctic Circle, and the yellow 

 swallowtail of Europe, north Africa, Asia, and northern North 

 America {Papilio machaon^ pi. 13, figs. 71, 74) also passes the Arctic 

 Circle in Europe and in Alaska. 



All parnassians are very similar in the shape and structure of their 

 wings. All are of medium size or rather large. The largest are 

 nearly 4 inches in expanse, the smallest about 2 inches. Most of 

 them expand between 2^ and 3 inches. 



In the bleak and desolate alpine regions, which they especially 

 prefer, their large size and conspicuous white color make the parnas- 

 sians the most noticeable of all the forms of animal life except, per- 

 haps, for certain birds and an occasional alpine mammal. Even the 

 most casual observer cannot fail to see them and to wonder how such 

 frail creatures can exist among such harsh surroundings. 



In the strong sunshine of the late morning or the early afternoon 

 parnassians are very active flying back and forth across the alpine 

 meadows with a fairly rapid uncertain fluttering flight. 



They rarely rise more than a foot or two above the ground. They 

 are never shy and are very easily caught either by intercepting them 

 in their flight or by picking them off flowers on which they feed with 

 more or less widely extended wings. As it grows colder in the after- 

 noon their flight becomes more leisurely ; becoming chilled, they are 

 more and more reluctant to take wing. Toward evening they become 



