48 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNassIus. ([Jan. 19, 
ceived P. glacialis from Corea, but some from that country in Mr. 
Godman’s collection are more like P. stubbendorfi, which is also 
found in the island of Askold. 
There is little or no doubt that Motschulsky’s name of citrinarius 
was applied to this species, and would certainly be preferable to 
Butler’s, which is without signification, there being nothing whatever 
glacial in the habitat of the insect. As, however, the priority of 
publication is doubtful, and Butler’s name is in common use, it may 
be retained for the sake of convenience. 
The law of priority is no doubt an excellent one, but may be 
carried too far, and in all cases where the type of an insect is unknown, 
or where, as isso often the case, in old descriptions, or in variable species, 
itis impossible to fix it with certainty to a known and sufficiently de- 
fined form, it is better to ignore it than to run the risk of confusion by 
altering the accepted name. I must say, however, that many of the 
names applied to Lepidoptera by some modern authors, among whom 
Messrs. Butler and Moore are conspicuous, seem to be most faulty. A 
specific name should, I think, always be given with regard either to 
some peculiarity of size, colour, form, or structure of the species, or 
should give some clue either to the locality, or to a person in some 
way connected with the insect. If, however, nonsensical or bar- 
barous names such as nicconicolens, Butler, rabdia, Butler, rikuchina, 
Butler, or misleading names such as glacialis in this case, or Terias 
hybrida, Butl., or names derived from Hindoo mythology, often 
incorrect, as Sabbaria peeroza, Moore= Papilio polyctor, and nume- 
rous others of the same character, then it becomes much more 
difficult to remember the name at all, and to remember to which 
species it belong. And I have personally found this difficulty to be 
much greater among the Lepidoptera than it is among birds or plants, 
which are, as a rule, much more rationally and sensibly named than 
butterflies. 
P. EVERSMANNI. 
Parnassius eversmanni, Mén. Enum. part 1, p. 73, t. 1. fig. 2¢ 
(1855) ; W. H. Edwards, Butt. N. A. p. 27, t. 7. figs. 6, 7. 
P. wosnesenshii, Mén. 1. ¢. p. 74, t. 1. fig. 3, 2. 
? P. felderi, Brem. Lep. Ost-Sibiriens, p. 6, t. 1. fig. 5. 
? P. thor, H. Edw. Papilio, vol. i. p. 2 (1881). 
Whether I am right in uniting the above species time alone will 
show, but I can see no difference except that of colour between some of 
the varieties of P. eversmanniand P. felderi ; and though the males 
appear very different, yet it would be perhaps impossible to say to 
which species some of the females belong. The examples which I have 
seen, however, in the collections of Messrs. Dieckmann, Honrath, 
Staudinger, Fixen, the Hewitson and Godman collections, and that of 
the St. Petersburg Museum, though somewhat numerous, have never 
been all compared together, and it is possible that some characters 
may exist which would serve to separate them. 
This species was first made known by a single specimen sent from 
Kansk, in Siberia, by Dr. Stubbendorf, and figured by Ménétries, 
