298 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Juty* ' :I 



The figure of clytie attracted our attention but the descrip- 

 tion was meagre and unsatisfactory. Lacta's description men- 

 tioned red on the under side, but the figure showed a differ- 

 ent species. Edwards' description of lacta in Butterflies, I, 

 141, Plate 47, proved that we did not have laeta. 



We next turned to Papilio, Vol. 2, pages 23-4-5, where we 

 found W. H. Edwards' original descriptions of Theda leda, 

 clytie and ines, clytie being reprinted from Field and Forest, 

 Vol 3, page 232, 1877. A very close reading of these descrip- 

 tions showed, that while our specimens most nearly resembled 

 leda, still there was really less difference outlined in the three 

 descriptions than could be found in a good series of T. melinns 

 from one locality. They seem to be three different word pic- 

 tures of the same object. In clytie Mr. Edwards polished off 

 his description with great detail, and evidently made consid- 

 erable use of a low power microscope. 



Leda was well finished but not quite so much attention was 

 paid to detail. Ines was treated quite crudely, as compared 

 with the others. Again the various details were not described 

 in the same order in any two of the three descriptions and this, 

 with the use of different words for the same things, gives the 

 reader a first impression of a very different species. We have 

 rearranged the order of the details, omitting nothing in any of 

 them, however, and then compared them with our specimens. 

 The results are given above and we believe will be of inter- 

 est to other students. 



Concerning the body, legs, palpi, etc., these insects are so 

 minute that a magnifying glass is required to follow the de- 

 scriptions. We find that most of the specimens, having been 

 dried and relaxed for spreading, have suffered a loss of fresh- 

 ness. We feel that minute descriptions of one or two speci- 

 mens under these conditions are of no value, and we therefore 

 omit them. As nearly as we can gather from our best speci- 

 mens the description should conclude as follows : 



Body above covered with blue scales and hair ; abdomen 

 above white with a slight amount of light orange. Beneath 

 white with a yellowish tinge on abdomen. Legs generally 



