OCR Text |
Show 1886.] MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE GENUS PARNASSIUS. 51 motion, not unlike that of many Hesperidae, taking short flights, settling frequently, and being very easy to capture. In 'Canadian Entomologist' Mr. Edwards describes the eggs of this species as a little larger than those of P. smintheus, of the same shape, covered in the same way with a crust of hexagons ; colour pale coffee-brown : laid on species of Sedum. The young larva is not distinguishable in shape, markings, or colour from those of P. smintheus. Some of the eggs brought by Mr. Mead in September from Nevada hatched in a warm room in February, but the larvae, though fed on Sedum, which some eat pretty well, soon died. P. CLARIUS. Parnassius clarius, Eversm. Bull. Mosc. 1843, iii. p. 539, t. ix. f. a-c; Stgr. Stett. ent. Zeit. 1881, p. 258. This species was discovered by Schrenck, in the Tarbagatai Mountains, and described by Eversmann, and has since been found by Kindermann between Ustkamenogorsk and Ustbuchtarmnisk in the Altai, and by Haberhauer at moderate elevations near Dschemine near Saisan, in Central Asia. Dr. Staudinger says of the specimens from this place that they are not so strongly marked as those from the Altai, and that the yellow spot on the inner border of the hind wing is wanting, and in one female the yellow ocelli of the hind wing are entirely wanting. The blackish band on the fore wing beyond the cell is also absent, giving the specimen quite the appearance of P. mnemosyne, which is found neither in the Tarbagatai, Altai, or Alatau Mountains, but appears again in the mountains of Samarkand. Dr. Staudinger thinks that P. clarius is very close to the North- American P. clodius, but that the yellowish instead of red ocelli well distinguish it. I would, however, remark that some Altai specimens of P. clarius, which I received from Herr Tancre, have the ocelli rather red than yellow, and that the best character by which the two species may be separated is the form of the pouch, which in P. clarius, though quite of the same character, is much longer than in any specimens of P. clodius I have seen. Little or nothing is known about the habits of this species, and its range does not seem to extend far to the east or west. A variety named dentatus in some German collections does not appear to have any marked characters, and the name was perhaps given rather for commercial than scientific purposes. Names of this class which have been largely adopted by professional horticulturists, seem likely to become also prevalent among mercantile lepidopterists, and should be treated as they deserve, when discovered. Scientific collectors owe so much to commercial enterprise both in plants and insects, that we must not criticize these practices too severely; but as soon as the love of science becomes obscured by the love of gain, and species-making becomes profitable to the pocket, natmalists must be doubly careful before they accept novelties of this nature. 4* |