1886.] MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. 31 



which Jacquemout seems to have found on some part of the Kash- 

 mir territory. 



The species now under notice might very fairly be said to be the 

 Himalayan representative of P. delius ; but though I cannot specify 

 any structural character by which it differs from that species, yet it 

 has far more general resemblance to P. actius. It differs from that 

 species (which perhaps also occurs in Ladak) in the fringes of the 

 wings, which in P. actius are almost always distinctly marked with 

 black at the end of the uerves, and in the darker antenna; less 

 ringed with white, and the ocelli of the underside, which are much 

 less ringed with black. 



I have received such a large number of specimens of this species 

 from Lahoul, that T am able to say with some certainty that the 

 pouch of the female is always keeled ; and though there is, as I 

 show below, very great variation in specimens from one locality, yet 

 I think I could say that none of those from this one locality could 

 be mistaken by one who really knew the species for any other Par- 

 nassius. 



After examination of a large series from Lahoul, taken between 

 July 15 and Aug. 28, 1884, at various elevations between 11,500 

 and 15,000 feet, I find the following principal variations : — 



As regards the ground-colour of the wings, from a pure creamy 

 white to a yellowish white, only seen in very fresh specimens and 

 most pronounced in females ; the black scales in some cases almost 

 covering the interspaces of the wings and giving the insect a very 

 dark appearance, whilst in some others, mostly males, they are almost 

 confined to the costal and basal areas and to the line of the nerves. 

 As a rule the females have a greater abundance of these black scales 

 than the males. 



As regards the fringes, I find in some specimens, usually those 

 least marked with red, an almost unbroken white fringe, whilst in 

 others it is more or less broken by black at the ends of the veins, 

 but never so distinctly alternated with black and white as mjacque- 

 monti or actius ; and this is one of the best means of distinguishing 

 the males from these species. 



As regards the red ocelli, they vary in number from none to three 

 on the fore wing above, of which two are near together between the 

 cell and apex, and one about the middle of the space, between the 

 third median nervule and the submedian nervure, and in size from a 

 mere dot of a few red scales surrounded by black to an ocellus 

 about 2 lines in diameter. 



On the hind wing above they vary in number from two to six, of 

 which one is at the base of the costa (usually, but not always, con- 

 spicuous, and sometimes quite absent), one halfway along the costa, 

 and one extending from the second subcostal nervule to and beyond 

 the discoidal nervule : these two are always present, and sometimes 

 large and pupilled with white ; one, and in females often two, at 

 the anal angle, and rarely one showing through the black scales at 

 the base of the cell. 



On the underside the full number of red ocelli (namely three on 



