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Show 1886.] MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. 29 with P. discobolus, jacquemonti, and rhodius, and differs from hima-layensis in having the red markings much more strongly ringed with black. The pouch of the one fresh female I possess is quite like that of P. delius, small and much more covered with hair than in P. apollo, and the abdomen of this female is as hairy as that of the male, a character which seems very unusual in the genus. The type, as figured by Eversmann, like those from the mountains of Khokand, is an insect with much fewer black scales on the wings than those from the Alatau, which are also less marked with red ocelli. The spot at the base of the hind wing above, a character which is principally relied on by Honrath to separate P. rhodius, is variable, as in other species of the genus, but does not appear in P. discobolus. In P. himalayensis it is often found, but more often is not visible on the upper side. P. actius was discovered with delphius and clarius probably in the Tarbagatai (or, as Dr. Staudinger thinks, in the Alatau) by Schrenck, and remained almost unknown until a few years ago, when it was collected in some quantity by Haberhauer in the Alatau, near Lepsa. Later he also found it in the Sultan Hazret Mountains south-east of Samarkand, and in greater abundance on the northern slopes of the Alai Pamir, south of Osch, in Khokand. Alpheraky also found it uncommon in the Thian Shan, at from 9000 to 13,000 feet elevation ; and Grumm-Grshimailo found it near Katta-Karamuk, and at Karasu on the north side of the Ters-agar Pass, which ciossess the Trans-alai Mountains of Karategin at an elevation of 10,000 feet. In the former place, which seems a wonderfully rich collecting-ground, P. discobolus, mnemosyne, and romanovi also occurred ; in the latter P. staudingeri, romanovi, and another. This region seems to be more rich in species of Parnassius and Colias than any other in the world; for at Kizil-art, on the western Pamir, which the same energetic collector also visited, he obtained, along with P. actius, a new one, which he calls P. ccesar, a form of P. delius 1, and another, thus obtaining no less than nine species of this genus in a single journey, besides six or seven of Colias, and many new and interesting Lycamidce, Erebice, and others. P. ACTIUS, var. DISCOBOLUS. Parnassius discobolus, Stgr. Berl. ent. Zeit. 1882, p. 182, t. i. figs. 1-3. P. corybas, var. discobolus, Alph. Lep. Kuldja, p. 16 (1881). P. (corybas, Fisch. ?, var. ?) discobolus minor, Stgr. Stett. ent. Zeit. 1881, p. 275. This form was first found in great numbers by Haberhauer in the Alatau, and later also very abundantly by Alpheraky in the Thian Shan range. Both Staudinger and Alpheraky in their descriptions go into many details of the markings, number of ocelli, and other peculiarities of this insect (which is extremely variable both in size and colour) in their endeavours to show that it is distinct from the somewhat mythical species P. corybas, Fischer; but neither of them gives any constant characters by which it may be separated from P. actius and |
