1886.] MR. 4H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. 39 
brood, which has hybernated in the pupa: of this fact I have no 
manner of doubt.” In another letter he says, “ When coming over 
the Rhotang pass about October 10, 1874, I saw numbers of the larvze 
of P. hardwickei on the low herbage, and have no doubt myself but 
that some of this species hybernate as butterflies, but by far the 
greater number in the pupa; that this insect is double-brooded no 
one who knows its habits disputes; the larva feeds on various 
species of Saxifrage.”” In another letter Capt. Young says, “ In the 
outer Himalaya (I speak of Kulu only) P. hardwickez does not vary ; 
but in the interior it varies from typical Aardwickei, through light 
and dark grey, to the high-level form charino.” 
Capt. Lang says, in P. Z.S. 1865, p. 488, that this species in 
Kunawur commences at the Runang pass, becoming commoner as 
we travel south and west towards Lower Kunawur and Simla, not 
extending nearer the plains than Simla, however. It is tolerably abun- 
dant on the Mahasoo ridge, near Simla, on bare grassy hilltops, just 
clear of oak-woods; grassy open downs it certainly affects, and at 
high elevation, 8000 feet. It has a strong but slow flight, somewhat 
like that of Pieris, keeping low over the rocks which crop up 
amongst the grass.” 
The form of the pouch in this species separates it widely from 
any other of the genus (see Plate II. fig. 5). The fringes of the 
wings are white and long, the antenne black. 
P. DELPHIUS. 
Parnassius delphius, Evers. Bull. Mose. 1843, iii. p. 540, t. 7. 
fig. la, 6. 
Var. namagana, Stgr. MSS. 
P. staudingeri, Haas, Berl. ent. Zeit. 1882, p. 163, t. 11. figs. 7, 
8,8 a. 
Var. infernalis, Stgr. MSS. 
I think there can be little doubt that P. delphius and P. staudingeri 
are one species, and time will show whether the Himalayan ally, 
P. stoliczkanus, can be separated from them; but from whatever 
point of view they are regarded, these three form a very natural group, 
differing widely from all other species in the form of the pouch, 
which, though it has some analogy with that of P. hardwickii in 
being divided into two lobes, is, as the plate shows, quite unique in 
form. 
P. delphius was first described from the Tarbagatai range by 
Eversmann with P. clarius and P. actius ; and it should be noted that 
though he says these species came from the southern slopes of the 
Altai Mountains, yet Kindermann, who collected in the true Altai 
Mountains, is quoted by Lederer in Zool.-Bot. Ver. Wien, 1853, 
p- 353, as follows :—“ It will perhaps be wondered that I did not 
find in the district I explored (which lies on the upper Irtisch 
between Ust Kamenogorsk and Ust-buchtarminsk) the species de- 
scribed by Eversmann in the Moscow Bulletin as from the Altai. 
These, however, do not inhabit the Altai, but are only indigenous 
700-1000 versts to the south, and were collected by Herr Schrenck, 
