30 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jail. H), 



the Siberian form of P. apollo knowa 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 hesebobis 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 

 antennae 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 3.50(1 to 1 1,000 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. nmior. 

 What Staudinger describes as ab. $ 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. S. 1882, p. 257; Oberthiir,' 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. jacquemonti oil&ois,AM\a\, 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 pcuch, 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 



