1886.] MR. H. J. EL-WES ON THE GENTJS PARNASSIXre. 39 



brood, which has hybernated in the pupa : of this fact I have no 

 manner of doubt." In another letter he says, " When coming over 

 the Rhotang pass about October 10, 18/4, 1 saw numbers of the larvae 

 of P. hardwickei on the low herbage, and have no doubt myself but 

 that some of this species hybernate as butterflies, but by far the 

 greater number in the pupa ; that this insect is double-brooded no 

 one who knows its habits disputes ; the larva feeds on various 

 species of Saxifrage." Id another letter Capt. Young says, "In the 

 outer Himalaya (I speak of Kulu only) P. hardwichei does not vary ; 

 but in the interior it varies from typical hardwiclcei, through light 

 and dark grey, to the high-level form charino." 



Capt. Lang says, in P. Z. S. 1865, p. 488, that this species in 

 Kunawur commences at the Runang pass, becoming commoner as 

 we travel south and west towards Lower Kunawur and Simla, not 

 extending nearer the plains than Simla, however. It is tolerably abun- 

 dant on the Mahasoo ridge, near Simla, on bare grassy hilltops, just 

 clear of oak-woods ; grassy open downs it certainly affects, and at 

 high elevation, 8000 feet. It has a strong but slow flight, somewhat 

 like that of Pieris, keeping low over the rocks which crop up 

 amongst the grass." 



The form of the pouch in this species separates it widely from 

 any other of the genus (see Plate II. fig. 5). The fringes of the 

 wings are white and long, the antennae black. 



P. DELPHITJS. 



Parnassius delphius, Evers. Bull. Mosc. 1843, iii. p. 540, t. 7. 

 fig. 1 a, h. 



Var. namagana, Stgr. MSS. 



P. staudingeri, Haas, Berl. ent. Zeit. 1882, p. 163, t. 11. figs. 7, 

 8, 8«. 



Var. infernalis, Stgr. MSS. 



I think there can be little doubt that P. delphius and P. staudingeri 

 are one species, and time will show whether the Himalayan ally, 

 P. stoliczkanus, can be separated from them ; but from whatever 

 point of view they are regarded, these three form a very natural group, 

 differing widely from all other species in the form of the pouch, 

 which, though it has some analogy with that of P. hardwickii in 

 being divided into two lobes, is, as the plate shows, quite unique in 

 form. 



P. delphius was first described from the Tarbagatai range by 

 Eversmann with P. clarius and P. actius ; and it should be noted that 

 though he says these species came from the southern slopes of the 

 Altai Mountains, yet Kiudermann, who collected in the true Altai 

 Mountains, is quoted by Lederer in Zool.-Bot. Ver. Wien, 1853, 

 p. 353, as follows : — " It will perhaps be wondered that I did not 

 find in the district I explored (which lies on the upper Irtisch 

 between Ust Kamenogorsk and Ust-buchtarminsk) the species de- 

 scribed bv Eversmann in the Moscow Bulletin as from the Altai. 

 These, however, do not inhabit the Altai, but are only indigenous 

 700-1000 versts to the south, and were collected by Herr Schrenck, 



