10 MR. H. J, ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNassivs. {[Jan. 19, 
communication from him, and he is only able at present to supply 
the following note :— 
‘*The assumption that the pouch of the female Parnassius performs 
a definite function after copulation, appears in all cases to have been, 
without doubt, suggested mainly by its scoop-like shape, no less 
than by its constant characters and relations and its persistence after 
coition. This assumption originated with Héger, who believed the 
pouch to have been concerned in oviposition, describing it, in fact, 
as a veritable ovipositor, ‘zuerst im Hinterleibe dieser Schmetter- 
linge fertig verborgen.’ V. Siebold’ first successfully disposed of 
this view, and showed that the structure in question was a secretion, 
believed by him to be derived from the male, and to be functional 
in prolonging the coitus*. I cannot agree with him that this is 
the case, the adhesion of the copulating individuals being assured 
by the hook-like claspers of the male. The pouch is densest in the 
vicinity of the female genital orifice, and its detailed structure 
conforms internally to the ventro-lateral parts of the male genital 
funnel. In view of this, the fact that it is impossible, in dissection 
of specimens procured during copulation, to remove the pouch 
without bringing away the internal generative apparatus of the 
female, points, to my mind, to a direct connection between that 
apparatus and the pouch itself. It suggests the probability of an 
origin of the same from the body of the female, and not of the male 
as is generally supposed. I cannot accept the view ‘that the 
pouch is composed of hardened cases of adherent spermatophores,’ * 
and the only supposition which seems to me thus far possible is that 
it represents a viscid secretion, poured out most probably by the 
female during copulation, which—instead of slowly disintegrating or 
otherwise disappearing, as do similar coagulable and non-coagulable 
secretions functional among other animals as accessories to the conju- 
gative act—is hardened on exposure to the atmosphere. It persists 
as a cast of the male genital apparatus, which may be carried by the 
female until the day of her death, a token of the consummation of 
her existence *. 
**The above remarks apply to P. apollo, one pair of which species, 
preserved during a copulation of 75 minutes’ duration, I have alone 
examined. My best thanks are due to Mr. Elwes for these speci- 
mens and others, upon which I hope shortly to be engaged.” 
But though to Von Siebold the eredit is principally due of calling 
attention to this organ, yet no one seems to have carried his obser- 
vations any further, though Mr. W. H. Edwards, with Dr. Hagen’s 
assistance, gave a summary of Von Siebold’s paper in the ‘ Butter- 
flies of North America’ several years ago, and Dr. Burmeister has 
* Zeitschr. f. Wissensch. Zoologie, vol. iii. 1851; also ‘ Entomolog. Zeitung,’ 
same year. 
2 Loc. cit. p. 55. 
% Macalister, ‘Introduction to Animal Morphology,’ vol. i. p. 412, 1876. 
Prof. Macalister informs me by letter that his material was in a “ very dilapi- 
dated state.” 
4 Conf. y. Siebold, /. ¢. p. 56. 
