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Correspondence was submitted as follows:

From Hon. John Hay, accepting membership in the Society.

From the President, announcing the appointment of the following Committee on the Scheme of Classification proposed by the International Conference on Scientific Literature, to wit, the Library Committee and the Librarian.

From Vice-President Sellers, announcing the appointment of the following Committee on the paper of Prof. Baur and Dr. Case Prof. Scott, Dr. Jayne and Mr. Arthur E. Brown. The Librarian presented a list of donations to the Library. The report of the Committee on Prof. Seeliger's paper was presented and accepted, and it was ordered that the decision of the Society thereon be reported to Prof. Meyers by the Secretaries.

Prof. George F. Barker made a communication on Hertzian waves.

Pending nominations Nos. 1477, 1478, 1480 to 1487, 1489 to 1495 and new nominations Nos. 1496 and 1497 were then read.

The Society was adjourned by the presiding officer.

Stated Meeting, April 7, 1899.

Vice-President WISTAR in the Chair.

Present, 5 members.

The minutes of the stated meeting of March 17 were read and approved.

An invitation of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg to attend the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Central Physical Observatory, on April 1-13, was read.

On motion of Dr. Hays, the Secretaries were requested to acknowledge receipt of the same and express regret that the

time was too short to permit of sending a delegate to attend the anniversary.

The deaths of Prof. Othniel Charles Marsh, of New Haven, on March 18, in his sixty-eighth year; of Richard A. Tilghman, of Philadelphia, on March 24, in his seventy-fifth year, were announced.

On motion of Mr. Prime, Gen. I. J. Wistar was appointed to prepare an obituary notice of Mr. Tilghman.

A paper was read on "Specializations of the Lepidopterous Wing: The Parnassi-Papilionidæ, II," by A. Radcliffe Grote, A.M.

The Society was adjourned by the presiding officer.

SPECIALIZATIONS OF THE LEPIDOPTEROUS WING:

THE PARNASSI-PAPILIONIDE.

II.

(Plates III, IV and V.)

BY A. RADCLIFFE GROTE, A.M.

(Read April 7, 1899.)

Fam. III. PAPILIONIDE.

The cubital cross-vein is always distinct, while in certain forms it does not connect inferiorly with vein vii, but is arrested at the submedian fold (vein vi). This latter is bent downwards to vein vii, beyond the cross-vein, in those types in which the cross-vein attains vein vii (see Comstock's figure in Evolution and Taxonomy, Plate ii, Fig. 2), and appears again within the cross-vein to base of wing. In certain forms the submedian fold is continuous from base to external margin, and the cross-vein then rests on this fold and does not reach vein vii (e. g., Eurycus cressida, Pathysa antiphates, Iphiclides podalirius). The following table separates neurational groups, and, as far as possible, the genera. The hairy male pockets on the hind wing I have not specially examined. In the nomenclature of the veins I continue to follow Comstock.

1. Vein iii, of primaries out of iii, beyond the cell halfway to

apex:

2. Cell of hind wings disproportionately reduced :

Hind wings greatly developed inferiorly, with long, pointed tail..... ........(1st Group) Leptocircus. 1. Vein iii, of primaries arises from radius more or less exactly opposite to the point of junction of discal cross-vein: 2. Cell of hind wings subequal, narrowed outwardly by a downward curve of cross-vein between iii and iv,:

3. Vein iii, of primaries anastomoses with ii:

Hind wings produced inferiorly, with short, sharp tail...

(2d Group) Idaides. Hind wings produced inferiorly, terminating bluntly,

without tail. . . . .

...Zetides.

Hind wings not produced inferiorly, rounded, tailless...

Arisbe.

Hind wings not produced inferiorly, with long, narrow,

equal tail.....

.Pathysa.

2. Cell of hind wings subequal, not narrowed outwardly (except

in Iphiclides):

3. Vein iii, of primaries free to costa :

4. Internal vein of hind wings shorter, running out on internal margin before the longer excision at anal angle:

Hind wings tailless...

Hind wings tailed.....

..(3d Group) Eurycus.

..Pachlioptera.

4. Internal vein of hind wings longer, attaining the
internal margin before the shorter excision at anal
angle:
(4th Group)

[Papilio, Iphiclides, Jasoniades, Euphocades, Heraclides, Laertias, Menelaides, Achillides, Orpheides, Nestorides, Calaides, Priamedes, Parides, Ithobalus, Iliades, Troilides, with the types given by Scudder, I am unable to separate by adequate neurational or wing characters in a table. They all generally agree, most of them exactly except by relative characters so obscure as to be of hardly more than specific value.]

1. Vein iii, arises from radius above the cell and just before the junction of the cross-vein.......(5th Group) Trogonoptera. 1. Vein iii, arises from radius above the cell and well before the point of junction of discal cross-vein:

4. Internal vein of hind wings reaching to anal angle,

internal margin full and rounded.

(6th Group) Ornithoptera.

From the foregoing table we may extract the following neurational diagnoses of the principal genera in the different groups:

=

(1st Group.)

Gen. Leptocircus Swainson, 1832.

Type: L. curius.

· Lamproptera Gray, 1832 (preoccupied).

Vein iii, of primaries arises out of iii, beyond the cell halfway to apex of wing. Cell of hind wings disproportionately small and reduced. Hind wings greatly developed inferiorly, with long, pointed tail. On primaries the cubital cross-vein does not attain. vein vii, but is arrested at submedian fold (vein vi). Vein "ix" of primaries present, as everywhere in the Papilionides.

The neuration of primaries, owing to the advanced position of vein iii,, presents very striking analogies with the Sphingidæ, but a relationship with this group is absolutely excluded by the presence of vein "ix" and absence of viii on fore wings. An habitual resemblance to Goniloba and other Hesperian genera is offered by the coloration; this is perfectly contradicted by the neuration which is Papilionid. How great must be the phyletic value of vein "ix," if it persist in this isolated and aberrant form! In none of the generic types examined by me do I find any probable indications of the more immediate phylogeny of Leptocircus.

(2d Group.)

Gen. Idaides Hübner, 1816.

Type: I. codrus.

Vein iii, of primaries arises from the radius more or less exactly opposite the point of junction of the discal cross-vein. The discal cell of secondaries is subequal, but is narrowed outwardly by a downward curve of the cross-vein, between radius (iii) and first branch of media (iv). Vein iii, of primaries, the first radial branch, anastomoses with vein ii. The cubital cross-vein is degenerate, narrow, and does not reach vein vii. The hind wings are produced inferiorly, and vein iv, terminates in a short and sharp tail.

This term has priority for a well-defined group characterized by the junction of the first radial branch with the subcosta. It is also marked by the downward scoop of the cross-vein between veins iii and iv, on hind wings. The genera Idaides and Zetides are closely allied, and appear merely to differ by the details of specialization of the outer margin of secondaries. Arisbe stands further apart by the rounded, not produced, hinder margin of secondaries. It possibly represents an older form of the group. Pathysa differs by the frail, testaceous veins, as well as by the tailing of the normally proportioned hind wings. In all of these characters, as well as in the striped ornamentation, it recalls Iphiclides, belonging to a different group having vein iii, free to costa. A further character, and one which suggests that Iphiclides presents an intermediary type, is that this latter genus has also the cross-vein of secondaries downwardly curved, between radius and first branch of media on hind wings. The intersection of the radial branches with the subcosta, which characterizes this group, is paralleled in the Charaxinæ. Nevertheless, I think we cannot regard this common feature as indicating more than an analogy between the Nymphalids and Swallowtails.

(3d Group.)

Gen. Eurycus Boisduval, 1836.

Type: E. cressida.

Vein iii, of primaries arises from the radius at a point more or less exactly opposite that of the junction of the discal cross-vein. The discal cells are subequal on both wings. Vein iii, of primaries free to costa. Internal vein of hind wings shorter, running out on internal margin before the long excision at anal angle. On primaries the cubital cross-vein expires just before vein vii. Humeral cell of secondaries large, subquadrate. Hind wings subovate, without tail.

This group is interpolated in this place on account of the extreme specialization of internal margin of secondaries and the shortening of vein vii. Thus the same tendency is manifested here as in the Parnassiidæ, to hollow out the margin and shorten the anal vein of the hind wings. The group is probably a lateral specialized branch from early forms of the succeeding and more typical group of the family. The genus Pachlioptera Reakirt, 1864, with the type aristolochia, differs very slightly. I regret not to have been able to examine Blakeia gundlachianus (columbus, grotei).

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