Papilio (Dan. Cand.) Chryseis, Drury, Append. vol. 2.
Papil. Gnoma, Fabr. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 210. No. 658?
Pap. Nepthe, Fabr. loc. cit. p. 120?
Habitat: China.
Upper Side. Thorax of a blueish black, with white hairs. Abdomen white. Anterior wings white, with a small oblong black spot near the middle of each; black at the tips, which colour extends down the external edge to the interior angle, and also runs a little way along the anterior margin towards the body. Posterior wings white, without any marks or shades. The edges of all the wings are entire.
Under Side. Breast, feet, abdomen, and anterior superior wings white, being covered about a third part from the tips with small, longish, light-brown streaks, making that part appear of a pale yellow. Posterior wings of the same pale yellow with the small streaks. One sex is very remarkable for having a number of hairs growing on the posterior edges of the anterior wings, next the body; some of which are erect, some bending downwards, and some lying flat on the wing.
There is much confusion respecting the specific names of this and several other Asiatic species, as may be seen from the citations in the synonyms. I have followed the French authors in assigning Drury's insect to the Pyranthe of Linnæus, although that author describes his insect as having a discoidal red spot on each of the wings beneath. The species of this group are variable in the intensity of their markings, and the males are less strongly marked than the females; and as Drury's figure represents a male (distinguished by the bundle of hairs on the interior margin of the anterior wings) it may possibly be an extreme variety of the male of Pyranthe. Boisduval has indeed described another species of considerably smaller size, which is destitute of the discoidal spot (Call. minna), which also, he considers, may possibly be a variety of C. Pyranthe.
PLATE XIII.
