SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



263 



the two following species, its length ranging from 

 seven- to eleven-sixteenths of an inch. The upper 

 surface is shining blue-black, sometimes violaceous, 

 with the margins brighter. The under side is bright 

 blue, purple, or violet, closely punctured and covered 

 with dark pubescence. The thorax is plainly less 

 punctured on the disc than at the sides. The antennae 

 are reddish with the first joint darker. This chafer 

 is usually plentifully distributed throughout the British 

 Isles. 



Geotrupes vemalis varies from seven- to nearly ten- 

 sixteenths of an inch. In general appearance it is 

 exceedingly like our last beetle, but often has the 

 upper surface brighter, and can be distinguished from 

 it by having the punctuation closely distributed all 

 over the thorax, even on the disc, and in having the 

 antennae black. It is not an uncommon insect locally 

 in many parts, but becomes rarer in Scotland. It has 

 been recorded from Dublin and Portrush, and is 

 doubtless present in many other Irish districts. In 

 his insect fauna of Ireland Patterson states it to be 

 particularly partial to sheep's droppings, in the pellets 

 of which it is said to insert its eggs. 



Geotrupes pyrenaeus so closely resembles G. 

 vemalis that it has often been described as a variety 

 of that insect, although now accorded specific dis- 

 tinction. Its general form is somewhat narrower, and 

 the disc of the thorax is almost impunctate, which 

 serves at once to separate it from G. vemalis, whilst 

 its black antennae help to distinguish it from G. 

 sylvaticus. Moreover, in the last-named beetles the 

 under side is closely punctured and pubescent, whereas 

 in G. pyrenaeus the abdomen is shining and impunc- 

 tate in ( the centre. This is by far the scarcest of our 

 dumble-dors, but is recorded as occurring locally in 

 the London and one or two other districts. 



The Geotrupina are all of considerable service to 

 man generally, by acting the part of scavengers and 

 ridding the surface of the land of the offensive 

 droppings of our larger animals. They benefit the 

 agriculturist in particular, by letting air into the soil 

 through their borings, as well as by manuring and 

 enriching the ground with the dung which is both 

 washed down by the rain and carried by themselves 

 to the recesses of their subterranean retreats. 



Saxholme, Hoylake. 



BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALAEARCTIC REGION. 



By Henry Charles Lang, M.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Lond. (i.) 



(Continued from page 238.) 



PARNASSIUS {continued). 

 [P. simo Gray.] 



b. var. simulator Stgr. R. and H. 112. 

 41 — 51 mm. 



Larger and darker than var. simonius. It is a 

 local form, occurring in mountains south Issyk-Kul. 



Group 3. Cincti. Aust. 



The various forms which constitute this group are 

 treated by Austat in a manner entirely differing from 

 the method of Staudinger and other German authori- 

 ties {ante, p. 171). Austat admits five species, 

 whereas Stgr. and R. and H. consider them all as 

 varieties and aberrations of one species, P. delphius 

 Evers. In the present work I shall treat them ac- 

 cording to the latter method, with the exception of 

 P. cardinal Gr.-Gr., which is the only form that I can 

 confidently believe to be a distinct species. It is, 

 however, probable that when we have a greater 

 knowledge of the habits of the different forms, and of 

 the structure of the pouch in the female, many of 

 them will be admitted to the specific rank. 



The group, as such, is quite distinct from the 

 others of the genus, not only as regards the abdominal 

 pouch in V , but in the general aspect of the wing- 

 markings. The butterflies are all of moderate size, 



(1.) This series of articles on Palaearctic Butterflies com- 

 menced in June number of Science-Gossip, 1899. 



the largest not having a greater expanse than average 

 specimens of P. delius. The ground colour of the 

 wings is hardly ever of the pure white seen in so 

 many of the group Carinati. The f.w. have the two 

 inner costal spots well defined, the outer ones are 

 less distinct, and often merged into a wavy band ; the 

 marginal semi-transparent band is well defined and 

 bisected by a row of white lunules. The spot near 

 an. ang. is generally very indefinite ; none of the 

 spots on the f.w. are ever marked with red. H.w., 

 with bases and inner margins distinctly and often 

 broadly black ; the usual spot near anal angle is 

 generally absent, but when present often marked with 

 red. A constant character, however, is the appear- 

 ance of two distinct ante-marginal black spots to- 

 wards an. ang. which often have minute blue centres. 

 Costal and central spots well defined, and marked 

 distinctly with red. U.S. generally with red basal 

 spots, but in some forms these are absent. The 

 pouch in 9 completely envelops the extremity of 

 the abdomen in the manner of a ring, and is bilobate 

 inferiorly. 



The geographical range of this group is of com- 

 paratively limited extent. It is, in fact, confined to 

 Central Asia, from the west of the Altai Range to 

 Southern Turkestan. Elwes did not find any of 

 the forms in the Central and Eastern Altai {vide 

 Trans. Ent. Soc. 1899, pt. iii. pp. 295-367). They 



