THE MEZENTIUS. 



549 



those of the inner edge are white above and bright crimson 

 below. There are also some small patches of crimson on the 

 base of the wing, and a very narrow crimson streak runs along 

 The long narrow tail is quite black. 



its outer edge 



The fashion which Linnaeus set of employing classical nomen- 

 clature as specific names for the genus Papilio has been followed 

 as far as possible by his successors. Owing, however, to the 

 rapidly increasing number of species, it was impossible to find 



Fig. 2&9. — Papilio Mezentius. 

 (Black, white, and crimson.) 



names in the Iliad and the iEneid, and it was necessary there- 

 fore to draw upon the large stock of names furnished by classic 

 writers in general. One of these names is Mezentius, the cele- 

 brated king of the Tyrrhenians, who was accustomed to torture 

 men to death by binding them to dead corpses and so leaving 

 them. 



This is a rare species from the western coast of America, and 

 at present there is but one specimen in the British Museum. 

 It is remarkable for having almost the same colouring on both 



