\\t €mdm\ llittainoliijjbt, 



Vol. XXXIX. 



LONDON, MAY, 1907. 



No. 5. 



STUDIES IN THE GENUS INCISALIA. 



BY JOHN H. COOK, ALBANY, N. Y. 



Incisalia Augustus (continued from Vol XXXVIII, p. 217, July, 1906). 



Ati Error Corrected. — In 1878 Henry Edwards^ described the mature 

 larva and chrysalis o^ Incisalia iroides as follows : 



" Fam. LyccenidcR. 



" Thecla irioides (sic). 



" Larva, full-grown : Carmine-red, covered with very short hair, each 

 segment involute above, with deep double fovese Length, 0.50 inch. 



"Chrysalis : Pitchy-brown, covered with very short bristly hair, swollen 

 about the abdomen and much narrowed toward the head. Spiracles 

 tuberculate. Wing-cases paler. Length, 0.40 inch." 



The larvse from which the above description was drawn were " taken 

 near Summit Station, Sierra Nevada, July 12, 1877." 



Scudder, who recognized iroides merely as a geographical variety of 

 augustiis? applied Edwards's descriptions to the latter species.^ No one 

 hitherto appears to have questioned the propriety of this procedure, and 

 the error has been repeated in all subsequent literature dealing with these 

 butterflies. Comstock,* evidently relying upon Scudder's opinion con- 

 cerning the value of the two forms, very naturally copies the mistake, and 

 suggests that " it is quite possible that the larvse of this species (aiigustus) 

 in the east may have a different colour." Holland® also gives these 

 descriptions as applying to augustus, and does not mention iroides. 

 Wright" recognizes iroides as specifically distinct, but makes no mention of 



1. Pacific Coast Lep. No. 27, " Transformations of Some Species not 

 Hitherto Recorded." Proceedings of the Calif. Acad, of Sciences, June 17th, 

 1878. 



2. Butterflies of the Eastern U. S. and Canada, p. 844. 



3. Ibid, p. 844. 



4. How to Know the Butterflies, p. 232. 



5. The Butterfly Book, p. 247. 



6. Butterflies of the West Coast, p. 210. 



