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



central ocellus usually with white pupil, and in the female sex a red 

 oblong patch at the anal angle. Near the outer margin is a series 

 of five large bluish-grey ocelli, broadly edged with black on the 

 outside. 



The fringe of the wings is white, broader and more distinct on 

 the hind wings than on the fore, but never spotted ; the antennae 

 are shining black ; the thorax and abdomen in the male are black, 

 thickly covered with short downy hairs on the thorax, and with 

 longer paler ones on the abdomen, which extend over the base of 

 the fore wing and the inner margin of the hind wings, as far as the 

 anal angle. 



The abdomen of the female is black with a few pale hairs down 

 the centre of the upper surface, and divided into eight segments by 

 distinct rings of a greyish colour ; the terminal segment in the female 

 is furnished with a tuft of short grey hairs, which, when the pouch 

 becomes developed, turn up almost at right angles to the body. The 

 pouch is a remarkably shaped one, different from that of any other 

 species of Parnassius (see Plate III. fig. 5). 



P. MNEMOSYNE. 



Parnassius mnemosyne, Linn. S. N. x, p. 465. 



Var. nuUlosus, Christoph, Hor. Ent. Ross. x. p. 19 (1873). 



This is the type of a large and Avidely distributed section of the 

 genus, Some form of the group is found in almost every region where 

 Parnassius occurs, and P. mnemosyne itself is of very wide distri- 

 bution in Europe and Western Asia, but replaced in Eastern Asia 

 and N.W. America by allied forms differing from it in minor cha- 

 racters, but preserving a very strong general resemblance in all 

 important ones. 



It is found in the Pyrenees at Cauterets (Oberthiir), in thousands 

 on meadows on the Spanish slopes near Gavarnie, at 6600 feet 

 (Pierret fide Speyer), in the Neapolitan and Sicilian mountains, in 

 Auvergne (Sand), in many parts of the French, Swiss, Styrian, 

 and Italian Alps, from about 2300 to 5000 feet ; but apparently of 

 very local distribution, as Meyer-Dur had never seen it himself, and 

 Dr. Staudinger told me that he had been equally unfortunate, whilst I 

 have taken it abundantly in three different places. In many parts 

 of N.E. Prussia, in Bavaria, the Hartz, in many parts of Austria, 

 it is more or less common, and often at quite low elevations. I have 

 taken it at Modling, close to Vienna, on a low rocky hill among bushes. 

 In the south of Russia, and in the north ot Europe, it seems to be an 

 insect of the steppes and forests rather than of the mountains. It 

 occurs locally in Denmark, Scandinavia, Finland, and as far north 

 as Archangel. In Asia Minor and the Caucasus, it is in many places 

 abundant, and according to Lederer always at a considerable eleva- 

 tion up to 8000 feet, developing a smaller darker variety {nubilosus, 

 Christoph) in Armenia and North Persia. In Asia it is found in 

 the mountains of N. Persia, in various parts of Turkestan, and 

 as far south as the Alai Mountains of Khokand, but not apparently 

 in the Thian Shan or Altai, where it is replaced by P. clarius. 



