I/O 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



but fainter, a sub-marginal row of black spots. H.w. 

 pale yellow, more opaque, ou. marg. grey, semi-trans- 

 parent, internal to this a row of black spots with blue 

 centres and surmounted by red lunules ; base black. 



9 somewhat larger than i , and with a red spot 

 towards in. marg. of f. w. 

 > Hab., Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Taurus. 

 ? The Greek Islands. Turkey. II. — IV. 



Larva, " Black with two rows of red spots on 

 each side, between which on the middle segment are a 

 row of six red spots. Cylindrical, clothed with short 

 hairs." Kindermann. On Aristolochia hasiata. IV. 

 Pupa under moss and stones. 



a. var. apollinaris Stgr. in litt. A small pale form 

 -with smaller spots on h.w. Hab., Armenia, Asia 

 Minor ; in elevated positions. 



b. var. bellargus Stgr. in litt. A darker form with 

 broad band on hind wings, the red and black spots 

 being very large with blue centres. Hab., Antioch. 



c. var. mardina Stgr. A small form. S paler and 

 less strongly marked than type. 9 with bases of h.w. 

 reddish. Hab., Mesopotamia. 



a. ab. rubra Stgr. 9 with h.w. strongly marked 

 with red, especially at base. Hab., Aintab. 



e. var. hystallina Schilde. Wings unicolorous 

 grey, h.w. with a red spot powdered with yellow 

 at int. ang. Hab., Asia Minor. 



Genus 7. PARNASSIUS Lat. 

 The sub-costal nervure is four branched. Antennae 

 short with an ovoid or elongated club not 

 curved. Wings with ou.marg. entire, rounded ; h.w. 

 concave at in. marg, usually the f. w. are subdiaphanous 

 toward the apices and along ou. mar. Body and 

 bases of wings hairy. 



Female with an abdominal pouch. 

 Larva cylindrical, smooth or slightly pubescent 

 with Y-shaped post-cephalic tentacles. They feed on 

 Saxifragaceae and Crassulaceae. 



Pupa, spun up in a rudimentary cocoon. 



The butterflies of this genus are generally of 



moderate size, but sometimes large — 33 mm. (/". 



■simonius) — 95 mm. {P. hesebolus). The Palaearctic 



species have the wings white, with black spots, which 



have the following general arrangement : — The f.w. 



have always at least two sub-costal spots placed in the 



discoidal cell, very often there are one or two external 



to these, and one near the centre of in. marg. The 



inner marginal and external sub-costal spots are 



frequently marked with red, very conspicuously so in 



some species, as in P. insignis, P. apollonius, etc. 



The h.w. have the bases black, and always have two 



■conspicuous marks, one on the costa and one near the 



■<;entre, between the disc, cell and ou. marg. These 



last markings generally consist of black rings enclosing 



.a brilliant red spot, which often has a white centre. 



In some cases there is a sub-marginal band of black 



spots with blue centres, something like those seen in 



Doritis apollinus. 



Only two Palaearctic species present exceptions to 

 . the general rule of pattern and coloration. The first 

 is Parnassiii'; eveninanni, in which the male has the 



ground colour of the wings bright yellow. The 

 second is P. stiibbenaorfii, in which the spots are 

 absent from the wings entirely, producing a striking 

 superficial resemblance to the black-veined white 

 butterfly {Aporia craiaegi), one of the Pieridae. 



The genus Pamassms is exceedingly interesting as 

 an object of study ; not only on account of the great 

 beauty of the design and coloration, but from its 

 affinity to the neighbouring genera, from which, 

 however, it is very evidently separated. There is a 

 great unity of type throughout the species, but the 

 genus is divisible into several distinct groups, as will 

 appear below. P. apollo is undoubtedly the type of 

 the genus, being described by Linnaeus in 1758. 

 This is one of the three European species, well 

 known to every collector in Continental Alpine dis- 

 tricts. The majority of species, however, occur in 

 the high mountains, and on the steppes of Central 

 Asia. New species are being almost annually dis- 

 covered, as a consequence of increasing explorations 

 in the regions of their habitat. Only those species 

 will be described here that belong to the Palaearctic 

 Region, but there are a few more which inhabit the 

 adjoining Indo- Australian Region, and some occur in 

 the Rocky Mountains, and elsewhere in North America. 

 The genus Parnassius has until comparatively 

 recent years been but little known or understood. 

 During the eighteenth century but three species were 

 known. Linnaeus (Syst:. Nat. X.) 1758, described 

 two, P. apollo and P. mnemosyne. In 1790 Esper 

 differentiated P. deliiis from P. apollo, with which, 

 no doubt, it had previously been included. These, 

 the three European species, were all that were known 

 up to 1823, probably owing to the disturbed condition 

 of Europe, and the difficulties of travel. In the first 

 half of the nineteenth century many additions were 

 made from 1823 to 1851. Eversmann, Menetries and 

 Nordmann added to the list several Siberian and 

 Central Asian species ; P. nomion, P. corybas, P. 

 apollonius, P. actius, P. delphius, P. tenediiis, P. 

 clariiis and P. sttibbendorfii. 



In 1855 M^n^tries proposed an arrangement of the 

 genus into sections, the basis of classification being the 

 arrangement of the red markings. 



1st Division. With red basal spots on the under- 

 side of hind wings ; apollo, v. hesebolus, apollonius, 

 nomion, phoebus Prun. {delius Esp. ), sedakovii, inter- 

 medins, clodius, eversiiianiii, wosnesenskii. Actius 

 and delphius Ev. 1846, are not included in this list. 



2nd Division. No red basal spots on underside of 

 hind wings. Clarius and no7-dmanni. 



3rd Division. No red spots on any of the wings. 

 Mnemosyne, stubbendorfti. 



This arrangement, which was founded merely on 

 iTiarkings and coloration, was, in spite of its bringing 

 together in the first group forms widely separated, 

 sufficient for the needs of the time. Several other 

 species were afterwards described by Menetries and 

 Bremer, and by the time Dr. Staudinger published 

 the second edition of his catalogue in 1S71, fourteen 

 Palaearctic species were enumerated, exclusive of 



