OCR Text |
Show 400 MR. H. J. ELWES ON BUTTERFLIES FROM SIKKIM. [May 2, nerve with square black spots, which, in fact, give the fringe the appearance of being alternately black and white. These fourteen specimens agree perfectly in form and vary but little in size. They are very similar in their pattern and tint, but the red spots do not agree in anv two specimens. Some have one on the costa of fore wing, another just below it, and a third on the posterior mar-in. In others one, two, or all of these are yellowish, plain black, or nearly absent. On the hind wings there are usually three large black spots with red centres ; but in two specimens the centre of the spots is yellow, and in one the spots are plain black. This species, which I propose to distinguish as var. sikkimensis, occurs at great elevations on the frontier of Sikkim and Tibet. I took it myself on an unknown pass by which I crossed from the upper Lachoong valley to the Cholamoo lake in Tibet, at an elevation of nearly 19,000 feet, in September 1870. I found a single pair in copula, which I put in an envelope and gave to Mr. Atkinson on my return to Darjeeling. These specimens are now in the Hewitson collection, under the name of P. simo, which at first sight they very closely resemble. I believe, however, after careful examination of my series, and of all the specimens of P. simo which exist hi England, that the two species are well defined by structural characters, which in this very difficult genus are of much more importance than size or colour. PARNASSIUS ACCO. P. acco, Gray, Cat. Lep. Brit. Mus. p. 76, t. xii. figs. 5, 6. P. simo, Gray, I. c. t. xii. figs. 3, 4. After a careful examination of the types of these species and of three others in Messrs. Godman and Salvin's, and one in the Hewitson collection, which are all that I know of in England, I have come to the conclusion that they are but varieties of one species, differing only in size and in the number and colour of the spots. They are, however, distinguished from P. epaphus by the colour of the fringes, which in fresh specimens are plain white, but in slightly worn ones, such as the type, are dark, but still quite plain. The antennae also are plain black, not ringed as in P. epaphus and P. sikkimensis, and the ground-colour of the wings is distinctly greyer and less pure white than in P. sihkimensis. Tbe fore wings also seem constantly more pointed at the apex, and more rounded at the posterior angle. These characters are not to be shown plainly by a figure, but are evident when a series of the insect is carefully examined. The female figured by Gray (fig. 6) is much more heavily spotted on the hind wings than one in Mr. Godman's collection; but the species seems less variable in this respect than P. epaphus, none of those I have seen of P. acco or P. simo having any red marks on the fore wing. The underside is perhaps more different from P. silelci-mensis than the upper, but the difference cannot be explained in words. This species is known from four specimens in the British Museum and one in the Hewitson collection, collected by Major Charlton in |