LEARNING TO NAVIGATE 87 



thoptera were obtained on August 29th, 1897. The 

 insect resembles urvilliana in colour, being perhaps a 

 shade lighter and brighter, and seemed to me to have 

 much narrower belts of blue on the forewing, while 

 it was not so large as the specimens found in New 

 Ireland and the Solomons. It was remarkable that 

 the Woodlark Island specimens were green, while 

 those of St. Aignan were blue, though the latter 

 were much further away from the home of urvilliana 

 (New Ireland and the Solomons). The underside of 

 the hind wing of the St. Aignan specimens had a most 

 decided greenish appearance, yet the insect was most 

 certainly distinct from other New Guinea specimens. 

 This difference in colour was very striking, for I had 

 been accustomed to the green insect, 1 which I had 

 taken or seen from Cape Vogel on the mainland to 

 the Engineer Group (the nearest group of islands 

 west of St. Aignan 's excepting the Conflicts). At 



1 New Guinea and the islands close to it are inhabited by 

 Papilio priamus poseidon, which has a green male. Australia, 

 the Southern Moluccas, Key and Aru Islands, and New Britain 

 are also inhabited by forms of priamus with green males. On 

 New Ireland, New Hanover and all the Solomon Islands the 

 males are blue, this being P. priamus urvillianus. On the 

 Northern Moluccas the males are orange, on the island of Obi 

 greenish blue, and likewise greenish blue on Duke of York, in 

 between New Britain and New Ireland. The form from St. 

 Aignan, with its blue male, agrees best with Australian specimens, 

 apart from the difference in colour. We now regard all these 

 differently coloured forms as geographical varieties of one species. 

 The name of Ornithoptera unfortunately cannot be employed in 

 science, as there are two older names available for these insects : 

 Papilio and Troides.K. J. 



