GENUS PARNASSIUS 77 



6. Parnassius Hermodur. 



Plate II ; Figures 6, b, c, d. 



Fig. 6, Male, Mts. of Central Montana, June, 1890; Author. 



b. Female, Mts. of Central Montana, June, 1890; Author. 



c. Female, underside, Mountains of Central Montana, 



June, 1890; Author. 



d. Female, side view of the body, showing the pouch. 

 Hermodur is the chief variety of the Smintheus group, as that 



species and group are now generally regarded; it is, in fact, so 

 prominent and consistent that it might well be called the stock 

 from which Smintheus and all the forms of Smintheus have 

 sprung. But Hermodur was unfortunately not recognized till 

 thirty-four years after Smintheus was found and named, and so 

 it naturally fell into second place, its rights not being duly appre- 

 ciated. It is not, perhaps, so widespread as Smintheus, but where 

 it prevails it is often present in great numbers, and it has the other 

 features that should characterize the stem of a series of variable 

 forms, namely, a constancy in markings everywhere, and espe- 

 cially an absence of variations among the members in its 

 metropolis. I regard Hermodur as the stem of the group and 

 have therefore placed it first on the plate. The male Hermodur 

 has never been named. 



Hermodur does not appear on the immediate Pacific Coast, 

 except perhaps slightly in British Columbia, but it chiefly inhabits 

 mountain ranges of moderate height, isolated and "island" moun- 

 tains, from Colorado, through Montana, and into Canada on both 

 the eastern and the western sides of the Rocky Mountains. 



In the higher and colder localities of its habitat it is inclined to 

 be yellowed a little ; specimens from Yellowstone Park and from 

 other more northern places are quite yellowish. 



The preliminary stages have not yet been fairly worked out, as 

 explained under the genus heading; and the larval food-plant is 

 also not determined. 



7. Parnassius Smintheus. 



Plate II ; Figures 7, a, b. 



Fig. 7, Male, Sierra Nevadas of Cent. Cal., June, 1890; 

 Author. 



