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Show 1886.] MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. 35 P. ACCO, Gray. Parnassius acco, Gray, Cat. Lep. Brit. Mus. i. p. 76, t. 12. figs. 5, 6 (1852). P. acco, Elwes, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 400. Of this rare and very curious species we know hardly anything. It seems to be confined to the elevated desert regions of Ladak, and not more than six or seven specimens are known to exist in collections, viz. two in the British Museum (the types), two in Messrs. Godman and Salvin's collection, one in m y own, which I owe to their kindness, and one, which I have also examined, in Baron Felder's. The two first of these were collected along with the types of P. charltonius and P. simo in Ladak many years ago by Major Charlton, at about 16,000 feet. The next three were taken by the late M r . Shaw on his journey to Yarkand, at Lapsang, south of the Karakoram pass, about 17,000 feet above the sea, and were given by him to Mr. Bates, whose collection of Lepidoptera passed into Messrs. Godman and Salvin's hands. The last was taken by the late Dr. Stoliczka on the Samanda pass, 17,000 feet, near Lake Tsomoriri in Ladak. I have also a single small specimen, which came, along with P. sikkimensis, from the Tibetan frontier, north of Sikkim, and which I cannot separate from P. acco, though in size and colour it is more like P. simo, and led m e at first to consider those two species as one when I first received it. They all agree very well in the important characters, having black antennae and whitish fringes; but the most remarkable character is the pouch, which in this species develops a keel of such extraordinary depth, that when sitting on level ground the abdomen of the insect must be elevated at a considerable angle. This remark-able pouch is similar in two perfect specimens, the one figured (Plate II. fig. 3) being from Mr. Godman's collection. A more minute examination of them shows that the fringes of the wings of P. simo are very different, and though neither the British Museum nor Hewitson's specimen has the pouch in a perfect condition, yet I have little doubt that the pouch of P. simo will be also found to be different from that of P. acco. Since 1881 I have had several collections from the same part of Tibet, and obtained a few more specimens of P. sikkimensis, but this single one of P. acco remains unique from that region, and none of the numerous collections made at Darjiling, which sometimes contain specimens from high elevations, have, as far as I know, ever included any Parnassius except P. hardwickei. P. SIMO. Parnassius simo, Gray, Cat. Lep. Brit. Mus. p. 76, t. 12. figs. 3, 4. Of this species almost nothing is known; there exist in all museums, to m y knowlenge, but four specimens-two in the British Museum, collected by Major Charlton in Ladak, and two others, of which one is in the Hewitson and one in M . Oberthur's collection, and both. 3* |