6 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jail. 19, 



of the first pair. The mandibles have an appendage. The gnatho- 

 poda are small and subchelate ; the daetylos of the second pair is 

 quite peculiar; it does not end in a claw, but in a finger-like setiform 

 process. Pereiopoda very similar in form, the basa being progres- 

 sively dilated ; fourth pair the longest. Telson entire. Coxae of 

 the first four segments very deep, the 4th broader than the preceding 

 three together. 



Jlab. Several specimens of this species were taken in a runnel of 

 water on the Obelisk (or Old Man) Range in the interior of Otago, 

 at a height of about 3000 feet. The stream was a little thing that 

 one could have dannned with the hand, and running at such a slope 

 that I can hardly imagine how the Crustacea are not washed away 

 by every shower of rain. The Old Man range is about 80 miles 

 from the sea. The only other fresii-water amphipod found in New 

 Zealand (excluding the subterranean forms found by Cliilton) is 

 Calliope fluviatilis, mihi, which is very common." 



This paper will be published entire, with illustrations, in the 

 Society's Transactions. 



A letter was read from Dr. C. S. Minot, of 2.5 Mount Vernon 

 Street, Boston, Mass., U.»S.A., calling attention to the Elizabeth 

 Thompson Science Fund, for tlie advancement and prosecution of 

 Scientific Research, and inviting applications for assistance fiom it. 



Mr. Howard Saunders exhibited an adult specimen of the Sooty 

 Tern {Sterna fuliginosa) sent to him by Mr. A. C. Foot, of Bath, 

 with the statement tliat the bird was caught alive about three 

 miles from that city, on the 4th or 5lh October, 1885, the 

 weather being windy and the floods extending over the meadows. 

 It was brought to Bath on the 6th October, and seen in the flesh by 

 the Rev. Leonard Blomcfield and the Lil)rarian of the Bath Museum. 



Only two examples of this species had as yet occurred in Great 

 Britain. Its habitat was principally intertropical, but it bred as far 

 north as the Florida Cays, and straggled northwards, generally in 

 autumn, to the coasts of New England. Under the name of " Wide- 

 awake Fair" its breeding-colony at Ascension -was well known. 



The following papers were read : — 



I. On Butterflies of tlie Genus Parnassius. 

 By H. J. Elwes, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived January 19, 1886.] 

 (Plates I.-IV.) 



Notwithstanding that the Butterflies of this genus have for years 

 been especial favourites among entomologists, and that their countless 

 variations have caused many pages of unprofitable descriptions to be 

 written on them, yet our actual knowledge of their life-history is, with 



