452 



PAPILIONID^. 



on under surface is but little darker than the ground-colour as a rule, but some- 

 times it is rather paler and in a few instances it is slightly tinged with blackish. 



In some male specimens of the Chinese spring form (var. erutce, Poujade) 

 there is no black spot in the submedian interspace ; in others the black apical 

 patch is narrower than usual and extends along the outer margin to just below 

 second median nervule ; in other specimens again the nervules of secondaries 

 are heavily charged with black towards outer margin. The females are 

 generally white, more or less suffused with dark grey, and marked with black, 

 but a few specimens from Western China are yellowish, suffused and marked 

 with dark grey, resembling in appearance the Alpine and boreal form of the 

 female of P. napi, var. hryonia\ Ochsenheimer. There is considerable varia- 

 tion in the size and intensity of the black markings. In one example from 

 Chang-yang, the base of primaries only is slightly suffused with dark grey, the 

 black streak along median nervure and that on inner margin, as well as the 

 apical patch, are narrow, the black spot in second median interspace is round 

 and that in submedian is almost separated from the streak on inner margin ; 

 on the secondaries the neuration is only narrowly bordered with black and 

 the spot at outer angle is round. Another specimen, from Wa-shan, has all 

 the w^ngs broadly bordered with black, and the costa, discoidal cell, and 

 submedian interspace finely powdered with dusky scales. All the Chinese 

 specimens of both sexes differ on the under surface from typical melete in 

 being whitish rather than yellowish, the venation is broadly bordered witli 

 blackisli, and the black spot in the submedian interspace is smaller. 



Apart from other characters the yellow patch at base of secondaries, on 

 the under surface, will almost always sei)arate this species from any of the 

 forms of P. riapi. 



Typical P. melete occurs commonly during the summer montlis in Amur- 

 land, Ja])an, and Corea, and in all the parts of China visited by my collectors 

 it is represented by the form here described as var. mandarin a. 



The spring brood in Japan has been described by Motschulsky as aglaope 

 and by liutlcr as mcgamera. Poujade describes the spring form from Moupin 

 under Boisduval's MS. name oi eruta;; Obertliiir describes it as orientis from 

 specimens taken in Askold in May, and states that he has examples from 

 Moupin wliicli exactly agree with them. These latter were taken, as w(>ll as 

 Powjade's typos oi erut(je, by Abbe David in Moupin, and are without doubt 

 referable to the same form. Staudingcr says that he has never received 



