380 



THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



LEMONIAS QUINO (BEHR), SCUDDER: ITS SYNONYMY 



AND ACTUAL STATUS. 



BY KORDYCE GRINNELL, JR., PASADENA, CALIF. 



Lemonias Quino (Behr), Scudder. was described in the Proceedings 

 of the California Academy of Science, Vol. Ill, p. 90-91, 1863. Since 

 that time it has been interpreted in every possible way but the correct 

 one. By some curious process of reasoning, the locality was changed to 

 Mendocino county, evidently on the authority of Henry Edwards, and 

 subsequent authors have adopted this conclusion, and tried to identify this 

 species from that locality. Henry Edward-^, in describing Meliicea Baroni 

 and rubiainda, compares the latter with Qiiitio, and thinks it might be 

 only a variety of that species ; but W. H. Edwards, in the '■ Butterflies of 

 North America," 3rd series, 1897, ^^Y^ o^ '^'^i^' ^^ follows : " Rubiciinda 

 was originally described by Mr. Henry Edwards as possibly but a variety 

 or form of M. Qut/io, Behr. Curiously enough, no one, not even Dr. 

 Behr himself, knows what Qiiino is, or was intended to be. The types 

 were lost, and the published description tits no known species or variety. 

 // certainly was not what Mr. Edwards understood it to be* when he • 

 compared both Baro?ii and rnbicnnda with it. He says of the latter that 

 ' red is the prevailing tint, and the submarginai bands of secondaries are 

 simply bands of red.' " 



It seems strange that anyone could get the idea that Qiiino was 

 distinguished by its black or dark coloration. Mr. \V. G. Wright 

 adopts this in his book, when by a cursory reading of the original 

 description this is not the case, but the very opposite, it is even not as 

 dark as chalcedon. 



I have had slight suspicions in regard to Quino, but last spring when 

 speaking with Mrs. Katherine Brandegee, of Berkeley, who has studied 

 quite fully what she took to be Lemonias augusta, Edwards, in the vicinity 

 of San Diego, on the authority of some eastern men, the question of the 

 proper name of the San Diego form came up — whether it was augusta or 

 Qiiino ; I then resolved to look into this matter fully, and try, if possible, 

 to set students on the right track. Mrs. Brandegee, being occupied with 

 botanical questions, has no time to look into entomological work, but 

 expressed herself as much interested in the true answer to the question. 



*ItHlics are mine. — F. G. 



November, 1907 



