112 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



which is very local in England. P. podalirius 

 probably at one time occurred in Britain, and still 

 appears in some popular books as the " scarce 

 swallow-tail." It has not been seen in this country 

 for at least a century, except when accidentally 

 imported from the Continent of Europe. 

 Genus' I. PAPILIO L. 

 This genus is of very wide distribution, extending 

 over the greater part of the world. The genus as 

 restricted by Latreille, is now being split up into 



Four species are found in Europe, two of these, 

 P. podalirius and /'. viachaon, are widely dis- 

 tributed. They are common in most countries, 

 appearing from IV. e. to V. according to latitude, and 

 again in VII. and VIII. They are, therefore, generally 

 to be seen throughout the butterfly season. The next 

 most common is P. alexanor, which however is far 

 less widely distributed than the two former, occurring 

 only in mountain regions, and is very local. It is 

 abundant in certain spots near Digne, and other 



Papilio machacn, ab. sphyms Hb. 



numerous generic groups. I prefer however to keep 

 the seven species here described under the heading of 

 Papilio. 



All the Palaearctic species are of large size and 

 have' the h.w. tailed and at the an. ang. an ocellated 



places in S. France ; in some of these localities being 

 commoner than either P. podalirius or P. viachaon. 

 P. hospilon is only to be taken in Corsica and 

 Sardinia, at an elevation of not less than 2,000ft. 

 In Corsica it is not so frequent as in Sardinia. 



Papilio xitthus L. 



spot. The f. w. are triangular in shape, and 

 generally have the ou. marg. slightly concave. Palpi 

 short. Antennae long, with elongate clubs, which 

 are^more or less curved upwards. 



The remaining species in our list are Asiatic. 

 P. xuthus, which somewhat resembles P. machaon, 

 but is larger and paler, with its smaller dimorphic 

 form Milhulus, and P. maackii, a splendid species of 



