50 MR. H. J. EL-WES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jan. 19, 



P. clarius, Boisd. Ana. Soc. Eat. Fr. 2nd ser. vol. x. p. 283, 

 P. baldur, W. H. Edw. Can. Ent. xi. p. 142 (1879). 

 P. clarius, W. H. Edw. Butt. N. A. i. p. 17, t. 4. figs. 1-4. 

 P. menetriesii, H. Edw. Proc. Cal. Acad. Dec. 18, 1876. 

 This species, which was described by Menetries from a specimen 

 brought by Wosnesensky from California, is confined to the Western 

 United States, from California northwards at least to British Columbia, 

 and probably further. For an account of its variations, I cannot do 

 better than quote Mr. H. Edwards's notes on the genus Parnassius in 

 Proc. Cal. Acad. July 15, 1878. He says: — "Our most common 

 species is P. clodius, Men., which has a wide range and varies much 

 in different individuals. The typical form of this species, which has 

 the red spots very large and distinct, and the wings nearly opaque, 

 occurs sometimes nearly at sea-level, having been taken by Mr. 

 Behrens at Bodega about 500 feet above the sea, and more recently 

 in large numbers at Tomales in Marin Co. As it approaches the 

 mountains it becomes smaller in size, with the wings more transparent 

 and the spots smaller. It is now known as baldur, Edw.=c/a/-iMS, 

 Bdv. nee Eversmann. This form is abundant in some portions of 

 the Sierra Nevada, particularly from about Emigrant Gap to the 

 summit of the Central Pacific Railway, 4500 to 8000 feet. Auother 

 form, still more distinct, in which the spots are nearly obliterated, 

 the female closely resembUng the male of the clodius type, I have 

 ventured to describe as P. menetriesii. This is to be taken also at 

 high elevations, my specimens coming from Lake Tahoe and neigh- 

 bourhood, 4000-.5600 feet, and one female from the "Wahsatch 

 Mountains, Utah, where it was ca])tured by Mr. J. 1). Putnam. 

 Mr. Mead took a grand female recently in the Yosemite Valley, at 

 4200 feet, and induced her to lay eggs on a plant of Sedum, and so 

 we may reasonably hope to know something of the transformations 

 of this exquisite species." 



Mr. Edwards says further: — "I have no doubt these are all 

 forms of one species, subject to certain variations from change of 

 food, temperature, and other conditions." 



In Mr. Edwards's ' Butterflies of North America,' what he now 

 calls P. baldur was described and figured as clarius, and he still 

 considers it distinct from clodius ; but there is little doubt that, as 

 Mr. Henry Edwards says, they are varieties of the same species. The 

 form which I have from "Washington Territory is the larger one, and 

 some from Plumas Co., California, are intermediate in size. Mr. 

 Crotch took the larger form in Yancouver's Island ; but I do not 

 know how far north it extends, or whether it meets with P. evers- 

 manni on the coast of British America, which is not improbable. 



The principal character in which it differs from the true Siberian 

 P. clarius is the form of the pouch, which in five specimens in my col- 

 lection is always shorter and broader than in other forms of this group 

 (see PI. IV. fig. 1 ) ; but the yellow hairs of the body and neck 

 and breast will also serve to distinguish it, as these parts are black 

 or grey in P. clarius. 



Mr, H. Edwards says that P. clodius flies with a short jerky 



