42 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jan. 19, 



P. TENEDIUS. 



Parnassius tenedius, Eversm. Bull. Mosc. 1851, ii. p. 631 ; Men. 

 in Schrenk's Amurl. vol. ii. Lep. p. 14, t. 1. fig. 3, $ . 



Of this remarkable species but little is known, though it has a 

 wide range in Eastern Asia, and has been collected recently in some 

 numbers by Herr Taucre's collector in some parts of the southern 

 Altai Mountains, in April and May. Eversmann received it first 

 from Irkutsk. I have a female specimen collected by Puzilo at Albasin 

 on the Zeya river in upper Amurland. Menetries describes and 

 figures a female from Olekminsk on the Lena river. I have seen speci- 

 mens in the St. Petersburg Museum, collected by Czernakowsky on 

 July 14, 1873, on the lower Tunguska. Major von Hedemaunalso 

 collected this species at the Schilka, in the upper Amur region, in 

 May. 



P. tenedius has a pouch-like appendage unlike that of any other 

 of the genus, though it has some analogy to that of P. imperator. 

 It is very delicate and wax-like in substauce, open at the bottom and 

 difficult to examine, but the figure I have given will explain its 

 structure better than words. In a female collected by Maack, which I 

 saw in the St. Petersburg Museum, the pouch is not developed, but 

 eggs of apparently full size are visible inside the abdomen, and I possess 

 another in which it is only partially developed ; but the two perfect 

 females in my collection, together with at least five others which I 

 have examined, all agree in the general form and substance of this 

 curious appendage. See Plate II. fig. 9. 



The antennae arc black, the fringes of the wings show a narrow 

 black line distinctly edged with white. The hairy covering of the 

 body is less abundant in the males of this species than in most 

 oi\ier Parnassius; the number and size of the red markings vary 

 just as in other species, but those from Amurland appear generally 

 to have them most abundantly. 



Nothing is published as to the habits of this species, which is 

 very scarce in collections at present. 



P. IMPERATOR. 



Parnassius imperator, Oberthiir, Bull. Soc. Ent. France, 1883, 

 p. 79 ; Et. Ent. ix. p. 1 1, t. 1. fig. 4, ? . 



This splendid species at first sight presents the most remarkable 

 resemblance to P. charltonius, but as soon as one examines the abdo- 

 minal appendage, which in this case cannot be called a pouch, it is 

 evident that a more different and peculiar structure cannot exist. I 

 must refer my readers to the drawing (Plate III. fig. 4), as a de- 

 scription alone would give no true idea of its form, which, though in 



evidently very nearly allied to P. discobolus, and indeed bardly separable from 

 it. These specimens do not agree with the description above given, which 

 makes me think that the name has probably been transferred from the original 

 insect described above to what is now sent as P. romanovi. I have to thank 

 the Grand Duke rJso for a pair of P. mnzaffir, Gr. Grsh., which also appears 

 to be a form of P. actius, and Herr Christoph informs me that P. charltonius 

 was also included in M. Grumm Grsliimailo's collection from the same region. 



