| OCR Text |
Show 34 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jan. 19, This species was discovered by Radde in Amurland, where it seems common in many places from the middle of May till the beginning of July. Christoph discovered the larva on a slope above a swampy valley near Raddefskaia, but gives no details as to its food plant, or the habits of the insect. Its range extends from the Upper Amur to the Ussuri, but not apparently to the coast; and as far as I can learn, it is an inhabitant of mountains as well as of low-lying wooded districts. The form described by Honrath as var. graeseri has red spots on the fore wing beyond the cell, which are rarely found in the typical bremeri; this form appears to be common, and is perhaps the prevalent one near Pochrofka in the Jablotschnoi Gora (Apfelgebirge) in Transbaikalia, near the watershed of the Amur region, at about 4500 feet elevation. Unless, however, it is proved to be constant and peculiar to this locality, I do not see any reason for separating it. P. APOLLONIUS. Parnassius apollonius, Eversm. Bull. Mosc. 1847, hi. p. 71, t. hi. figs. I, 2; Alph. Lep. Kuldja, 1881, p. 20. This distinct species was only known from Eversmann's description and figure in the Bulletin of the Moscow Academy for 1847, until quite recently, when it has been taken in large numbers by Alpheraky at Sibo, near Kuldja, and by Haberhauer in Ferghana. According to Alpheraky's account, it is an inhabitant of saline steppes about 2000 feet above sea-level, and flies at the end of March and beginning of April, laying its eggs on a species of Salsola which is abundant here, and which is probably the food-plant of the larva. Eversmann, however, says that it flies in the mountains of Soongaria in June ; and Erschoff says that it was taken by Fedtschenko's expedition between 8000 and 12,000 feet in July. These statements appear almost irreconcilable (cf. Alpheraky, /. c. p. 21); and if the latter is correct, the vertical range of this species is greater than that of any other Parnassius. Grumm-Grshimailo found it near Woadjili, south of Osch, at the beginning of June, but gives no particulars of its habits, save that the locality is bare, rocky, and very hot; it is about 3000 feet above the sea, according to the Russian Staff-map of Turkestan. The same explorer found it afterwards near Karamuk, in the north-east corner of Karategin, at about 7500 feet. Alpheraky further states that whereas the fringe of the wings in Kuldja specimens is alternately white and black, it is, in those from Ferghana, almost entirely white; but in nine specimens in m y collection, of which four are from Kuldja, four from Margilan, and one from Samarcand, I do not find this remark confirmed, as the fringes are more or less marked with black in all the examples. The antennae of this species are deep black, the hairs of the neck, thorax, and abdomen white. The number and size of the red spots vary as in other species. The pouch is of the same form, but perhaps rather larger than in P. apollo, black in colour, and somewhat prominent as in P. nomion. |
