30 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jan. 19, 
the Siberian form of P. apollo known as hesebolus. In fact Staudinger 
says he received some specimens which are intermediate between 
discobolus and actius, and may be hybrids of them in his opinion ; 
while Alpheraky describes a form which he thinks is a hybrid 
between hesebolus and discobolus, and states in confirmation of this 
theory that he found a male of the former in copula with a female 
of the latter. 
I confess that after careful examination of Dr. Staudinger’s series, 
as well as of those I have received from him and M. Alpheraky, I 
can find no constant characters; forthe absence of the red spot at’ base 
of hind wings is not constant, as Schilde, in Ent. Nachrichten, 1884, 
p- 334, observes; and even if it was in some species, it is certainly 
not in discobolus or actius. I see nothing in the pouch, fringe, or 
antenne to make this form worthy of separation, though it is almost 
impossible, on the other hand, to say to what it should be joined, 
unless it is P. actius ; and some of the American specimens of P. smin- 
theus are also exceedingly close. 
Alpheraky found it in all parts of the Thian Shan which he 
visited, at elevations of 3500 to 11,000 feet, from the 15th of May 
throughout the summer, the specimens found at high elevations 
being smaller, less richly coloured, and more like those of the 
Alatau Mountains, which Staudinger has separated as var. minor. 
What Staudinger describes as ab. 2 nigricans seems, according to 
Alpheraky, to be a not uncommon form of the female at low eleva- 
tions. It is simply a form in which the wings are very diaphanous 
and covered with black scales to such an extent that when on the 
wing they seem black. 
The yellowish tint which very fresh specimens of Parnassius 
(especially females) often show is found in discobolus; and I noted 
in one specimen in Dr. Staudinger’s collection that the fringes of 
the fore wings are blackish, whilst others had a very strong resem- 
blance to nomion, but could apparently be certainly distinguished by 
the fringes of the hind wings, which are never so distinctly chequered 
as in that species. 
P. ACTIUS, var. HIMALAYENSIS. 
Parnassius jacquemonti, Blanch. Jacquemont’s Voy. p. 16, t. i. 
figs. 3,4; Moore, P. Z. 8. 1882, p. 257; Oberthir, Et. Ent. liv. 
iv. 1879, p. 23, t. ii. fig.5; Honrath, Berl. ent. Zeit. 1885, p. 274. 
Though it is very difficult to say what this species may be, I 
think it certain that it is not the P. jacguemonti of Boisduval, on 
account of the remarkable difference in the pouch, which I have 
pointed out in alluding to that species. Neither Moore, Gray, 
Blanchard, Honrath, nor Oberthiir seems, however, to have paid any 
attention to Boisduval’s description of the pouch, or, if they did, 
failed to understand the importance of this character. The extreme 
rarity of female specimens of the true P. jacquemonti in museums has 
doubtless prevented other writers from distinguishing the form now 
under notice from the much rarer and more inaccessible species 
