PLATE V. Fig. 2.
_Godart’s Pap. de France_, ii. Pl. 3, fig. 3, 4.--Pap. Medesicaste,
_Hubn. Pap._ 124, fig. 632.--Pap. Rumina, _Hubn._ Pl. 394, 395.--Thais
Honnoratii, _Boisd. Icon._ Pl. 3, fig. 3-5, var.
The genus Thais is confined to the southern countries of Europe, the
north of Africa, and Asia Minor. All the species are of moderate size,
and may at once be known by the peculiar design of the colouring of the
wings, which are always yellow spotted with red and black, and bordered
externally with a dark festooned line. The palpi are composed of three
nearly equal articulations, and rise conspicuously above the head; the
antennæ rather short and terminating in a club slightly curved upwards.
The body is slender, and the abdominal margin of the hinder pair of
wings is curved downwards as if to leave room for the movements of
the abdomen. The caterpillars are short and cylindrical, covered with
fleshy spines and short hairs, the first segment provided with a fleshy
bifurcated tentaculum. They live solitarily or in small groups on the
_Aristolochia_, and obviously bear a considerable analogy, as well as
the perfect insect, to _Parnassius_. The chrysalis is cylindrico-conic,
somewhat angular in front.
The species represented on the annexed plate may possibly be a variety
of _T. Rumina_. Surface pale ochreous yellow, with a black marginal
band divided on the upper wings by a series of eight or nine yellow
spots; along the costal margin are several black irregular transverse
bands, some of them inclosing rounded red spots; inferior wings with a
black festooned line along the exterior border; towards the base are
always three red spots, one near the abdominal margin, another in the
upper part of the discoidal cell, and a third near the anterior edge,
usually united in the form of a transverse band with that in the cell.
Body blackish, marked with rows of fulvous spots.
The caterpillar lives on the _Aristolochia pistolochia_. Sometimes the
colour is reddish-yellow, at other times brown or dull yellowish-green,
with numerous rows of black lines often interrupted; the body bearing
six rows of fleshy spines, of an orange yellow hue, and ciliated with
black at the extremity.
The insect is found in Languedoc, in the neighbourhood of Digne, &c.