FAMILY I 



THE PARNASSIANS 



Family Parnassiidce (Par-nas-si'i-dae) 



The parnassians are butterflies of medium size in which the 

 ground color of the wings is white shaded with black, and 

 marked with round red or yellow spots margined with black 



(Plate IV, Fig. 3). 



In structure the parnassians are 

 closely allied to the swallow-tails; 

 but in their general appearance 

 they show little resemblance to 

 them, differing in the ground 

 color of the wings, and in lack- 

 ing the tail-like prolongation of 

 the hind wings. 



The most striking characteris- 

 tics of the venation of the wings 

 are that the cubitus appears to 

 be four-branched, and the anal 

 area of the hind wings is more 

 reduced than the anal area of the 

 fore wings (Fig. 24) ; in both of these respects they resemble 

 the swallow-tails and differ from all other butterflies. The 

 apparently four-branched condition of cubitus is due to the 

 fact that vein M 2 as well as vein M s is joined to cubitus; 

 while in other butterflies, except the swallow-tails, vein M, is 



42 



Fig. 24. — Venation of the 

 wings of Pamassius. 



