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Show 1886.] MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. 21 mv head made it desirable to look round to see what, was going on there ; an apparently drowsy P. apollo, hanging by her fore feet to a composite flower, was slowly flapping her wings, and scraping the hinder pair with her four posterior legs, which were thrust backwards simultaneously each time that the wings opened. Obstruction to the movement of the fore wings caused no hindrance to the production of the sound, but when the hind wings also were held firmly between the finger and thumb, the noise ceased. The insect became so wide awake at this stage of the proceedings, that no further observations could be made, but it seemed probable that friction of the spines of the tibiae and tarsus over the wing-veins largely contributed to the vibration of the wing-membrane." The usual manner of pupation of P. apollo is described as being in a slight silken web among leaves, and this is confirmed by Miss F. Woolward, to whom I sent living larvae to be figured. She says : " The larva did not hang itself up in any way, and the pupa is too fat and heavy for this to be likely. The way in which the larval skin was slipped off would seem to make it impossible. The larva had a very scanty supply of silk, which it spread about at the bottom of the box, making no attempt to enclose itself closely." Tachler, however, in ' Bericht der St. Gallischen Gesellschaft,' 1869-70, p. 87, says that "two larvae of this species, instead of pupating in a light web among leaves, as is generally said to be the case, went into pupa hanging to the gauze of the cage in which they were confined." He thinks that this is a most abnormal occurrence, and perhaps the observation requires confirmation. These two larvae remained seventeen days in pupa, and took two hours after emerging before the wings were fully formed. The variation which exists in this species is very great, both in size and in the number and colour of the ocelli. The largest female that I have is of the variety hesebolus, Nord-mann, from the Transili mountains, which measures 3*5 in. across the wings. Another, from the Thian Shan, resembles it in size and colour. These females and those from the Ural are much more overlaid with black scales on both fore and hind wings than ordinary European specimens, hut I have a female from the Jura almost as dark. A male from the Ural of the same variety measures 3*6, whilst eight males from the Altai measure from 3*1 to 3*3 across. These males are all more creamy in the ground-colour of their wings and less overlaid with black scales than Swiss specimens, showing that the causes which have induced the change of colour have acted on the sexes in opposite directions. Seven specimens from Eperies in North Hungary vary from 2'8 to 3*2 ; seven specimens from Norway and Sweden are from 3*2 to 3*3. The largest Swiss specimens I have are from Biieg and measure 3 to 3'1, whilst those from other parts of the Alps and Jura do not exceed 2*8, and I have one from Dourbes only 2*1 across the wings. Specimens from the Sierra Nevada of Andalusia have the ocelli yellowish instead of red, and this occurs rarely elsewhere. One or two red spots beyond the cell of the fore wing as in P. delius occur |
