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



ceived P. glacialis from Corea, but some from that country in Mr. 

 Godman's collection are more like P. stubbendorfi, which is also 

 found in the island of Askold. 



There is little or no doubt that Motschulsky's name of citrinarius 

 was applied to this species, and would certainly be preferable to 

 Butler's, which is without signification, there being nothing whatever 

 glacial in the habitat of the insect. As, however, the priority of 

 publication is doubtful, and Butler's name is in common use, it may 

 be retained for the sake of convenience. 



The law of priority is no doubt an excellent one, but may be 

 carried too far, and in all cases where the type of an insect is unknown, 

 or where, as is so often the case, in old descriptions, or in variable species, 

 itis impossible to fix it with certainty to a known and sufficiently de- 

 fined form, it is better to ignore it than to run the risk of confusion by 

 altering the accepted name. I must say, however, that many of the 

 names applied to Lepidoptera by some modern authors, among whom 

 Messrs. Butler and Moore are conspicuous, seem to be most faulty. A 

 specific name should, I think, always be given with regard either to 

 some peculiarity of size, colour, form, or structure of the species, or 

 should give some clue either to the locality, or to a person in some 

 way connected with the insect. If, however, nonsensical or bar- 

 barous names such as vicconicolens, Butler, rabdia, Butler, rikuchina, 

 Butler, or misleading names such as glacialis in this case, or Terias 

 hybrida, Butl., or names derived from Hindoo mytliology, often 

 incorrect, as Sabbaria peeroza, Moore^ Papilio jwlj/ctor, and nume- 

 rous others of the same character, then it becomes much more 

 difficult to remember the name at all, and to remember to which 

 species it belong. And I have personally found this difficulty to be 

 much greater among the Lepidoptera than it is among birds or plants, 

 which are, as a rule, much more rationally and sensibly named than 

 butterflies. 



P. EVERSMANNI. 



Parnassius eversmanni. Men. Enum. part 1, p. 73, t. 1. fig. 2 c? 

 (1855) ; W. H. Edwards, Butt. N. A. p. 27, t. 7. figs. 6, 7. 



P. wosnesenskii. Men. /. c. p. 74, t. 1. fig. 3, $ . 



t P. felderi, Brem. Lep. Ost-Sibiriens, p. 6, t. 1. fig. 5. 



IP. thor, H. Edw. Papilio, vol. i. p. 2 (1881). 



Whether I am right in uniting the above species time alone will 

 show, but I can see no difference except that of colour between some of 

 the varieties of P. eversmanniAwd P. felderi ; and though tbe males 

 appear very diff'erent, yet it would be perhaps impossible to say to 

 which species some of the females belong. The examples which I have 

 seen, however, in the collections of Messrs. Dieckmann, Honrath, 

 Staudinger, Fixen, the Hewitson and Godman collections, and that of 

 the St. Petersburg Museum, though somewhat numerous, have never 

 been all compared together, and it is possible that some characters 

 may exist which would serve to separate them. 



This species was first made known by a single specimen sent from 

 Kansk, in Siberia, by Dr. Stubbeudorf, and figured bv Menetries. 



