118 



CATALOGUE OF THE 



t*222. IMPROBA, BUTL., Ent. Mon. Mag., XIII, 206, (1877). [Cambridge 



Bay, Arctic 

 Am. 



IMorrisii, Reak., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc., Phil., p. 245, (1866), 

 was described from an example of Arg. Euphrosyne, L., 

 which Mr. Reakirt received from M. Lorquin the younger, 

 with California erroneously given as its locality. 



Nenoquis, Reak., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc., Phil., p. 247, (1866), 

 is Dia, L., received by Mr. Reakirt under the same circum- 

 stances. 



The Argynnides of the western slope, or Pacific wide of the 

 Rocky Mts., are without doubt, if we except perhaps the Co- 

 liades, the most difficult of all the N. Am. Diurnse to deal 

 with, as they not only run into certain variations, but again 

 into subvariations, and even further; the two species Monti- 

 cola and Zerene, first considered identical by Dr. Boisduval, 

 are perhaps the most perplexing ; each of these bears the 

 same relation to some of their varieties as does Niobe to its 

 var. Eris and Adippe to Cleodoxa, but presenting by no means 

 the stability of form of these European variations, but 

 branching out into endless and endless varieties until the 

 student is completely at a loss to know where or to what they 

 may belong. The presence or absence of silver spots is not 

 of the slightest specific importance, for the same species may 

 be with or without them, or one sex of the same species is 

 with them silvered and in the other they are devoid of it, or 

 again the silver is confined to a single row of spots, or even 

 to part of a row, or to one or two spots only. Edwardsii and 

 Nevadenxis are so close as to scarce deserve even a varietal 

 name. Nokomis may be and I believe is a form of Cybele, 

 corning as it does from Arizona, which for its Lep. Fauna is 

 the wonderland of N. Am., we need scarce be astonished at its 

 remarkable aberrancy. Brcmnerii may be a form of Monti- 

 cola. Nos. 194, 195, 197, 199, 200, 201, 205 var. c., 207, 212 

 and 222 are entirely unknown to me in nature ; the majority 

 of them I feel assured will prove to be varieties of some of 

 the older species. 



The lately described Alcestis is a var. of Aphrodite ; Mr. Edwds. 

 informed me that the larva is different; in my estimation the 

 difference in the appearance of the larva amounts to very 

 little; for if the perfect insect varies from the normal 

 form, whv may not then the larva likewise vary? 

 In fact, I doubt if there can be much variation in the imago 

 unless it existed in the earlier stages. Too much stress by 

 far is laid on the circumstance of whether the larva differs 

 or not from that of the ordinary form. If this were so con- 

 clusive, why is it then that the green and brown larvae of Cer. 

 Jmperinlis, both bring precisely the same form of moth, or the 

 tawny and green larvse of Thyreus Abbotii, produce the same 

 results? No; if we have a varietal form or subspecies in the 

 last stage of the insect we must just as reasonably expect to 

 find it in the earlier stages. Is the Albino offspring of negro 

 parents black when a child or with black or brown eyes? 

 Certainly not; as an infant it has the same abnormal white 

 cuticle to its body and the same fiery iris to the eye as when 

 it becomes an adult. Again, would the child born with six 

 toes or fingers on each foot or hand have but five to each ex- 

 tremity on attaining maturity? 



