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Show 48 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. [Jan. 19, ceived P. glacialis from Corea, but some from that country in Mr. Godman's collection are more like P. stubbendorfi, which is also found in the island of Askold. There is little or no doubt that Motschulsky's name of citrinarius was applied to this species, and would certainly be preferable to Butler's, which is without signification, there being nothing whatever glacial in the habitat of the insect. As, however, the priority of publication is doubtful, and Butler's name is in common use, it may be retained for the sake of convenience. The law of priority is no doubt an excellent one, but may be carried too far, and in all cases where the type of an insect is unknown, or where, as is so often the case, in old descriptions, or in variable species, itis impossible to fix it with certainty to a known and sufficiently defined form, it is better to ignore it than to run the risk of confusion by altering the accepted name. I must say, however, that many of the names applied to Lepidoptera by some modern authors, among whom Messrs. Butler and Moore are conspicuous, seem to be most faulty. A specific name should, I think, always be given with regard either to some peculiarity of size, colour, form, or structure of the species, or should give some clue either to the locality, or to a person in some way connected with the insect. If, however, nonsensical or barbarous names such as nicconicolens, Butler, rabdia, Butler, rikuchina, Butler, or misleading names such as glacialis in this case, or Terias hybrida, Butl., or names derived from Hindoo mythology, often incorrect, as Sabbaria peeroza, Moore= Papilio polyctor, and numerous others of the same character, then it becomes much more difficult to remember the name at all, and to remember to which species it belong. And I have personally found this difficulty to be much greater among the Lepidoptera than it is among birds or plants, which are, as a rule, much more rationally and sensibly named than butterflies. P. EVERSMANNI. Parnassius eversmanni, Men. Enum. part 1, p. 73, t. 1. fig. 2 o* (1855) ; W . H. Edwards, Butt. N. A. p. 27, t. 7. figs. 6, 7. P. ivosnesenskii, Men. I. c. p. 74, t. 1. fig. 3, $ . 1 P. felderi, Brem. Lep. Ost-Sibiriens, p. 6, t. 1. fig. 5. IP. thor, H. Edw. Papilio, vol. i. p. 2 (1881). Whether I am right in uniting the above species time alone will show, but I can see no difference except that of colour between some of the varieties of P. eversmanni and P. felderi; and though the males appear very different, yet it would be perhaps impossible to say to which species some of the females belong. The examples which I have seen, however, in the collections of Messrs. Dieckmann, Honrath, Staudinger, Fixen, the Hewitson and Godman collections, and that of the St. Petersburg Museum, though somewhat numerous, have never been all compared together, and it is possible that some characters may exist which would serve to separate them. This species was first made known by a single specimen sent from Kansk, in Siberia, by Dr. Stubbendorf, and figured by Menetries. |