THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 35 



disc they are yellow. 2nd — the abdomen of the Anticosti species is. 

 spotted with yellow like asferias, while all the others have that part black 

 with yellow lines, as in turnus. In a letter from Mr. Edwards, dated 

 Sept. ist, 1S73, he says that '^we had all been looking for affinity to 

 asferias, while the butterfly belonged to another group. Strecker described 

 it as a var. of asfe?'ias, and so Packard considered hrcvicaiida a var. of 

 asterias. In my synopsis I put the species down as a var. of asferias. It 

 is many years since I saw the original brri'icaiida, and I have forgotten its 

 appearance; but in reading over the description in Packard, I consider 

 that the excess of fulvous is the only permanent distinction between the 

 Newfoundland and Anticosti specimens."' Mr. Grote agrees with Mr. 

 Edwards that the Papilio collected in ^Anticosti is brevicanda, Saunders, but 

 I thmk my memory serves me correctly when I state that the specimens 

 of Papilio in Mr. Innes' collection from Newfoundland were considered 

 distinct by the latter gentleman and myself, at that time. The Newfound- 

 land specimens were smaller than those from Labrador; indeed, we 

 looked on the St. John's butterfly as dwarfed, but the species was not then 

 determined. 



Not having access to all the forms constituting connecting groups of 

 Papilios, I am not prepared to concur with the gentlemen who have 

 classed it with jnachaoji or zolicaon. At first view the Anticosti butterfly 

 takes the characters of asferioides, Reakirt, and asferias, while the form 

 has a mere approach to iiiachaofi and zolieaon. I suppose it is on account 

 of the latter affinity that Mr. Edwards places it near machaon and zolieaon, 

 but there are these notable differences between the Anticosti Papilio and 

 P. Aliaska, Scudder, or zolieaon, viz., ist, the hind wings are black and 

 the i7ife?'ior band underneath is constant in form and number of spots, and 

 the spots are not wedged into each other as in zolieaon or asferias. 2nd, 

 the abdomen is spotted with yellow similar to asferias and asterioides, and 

 in fact, in my judgment, the Anticosti Papilio, with the exception of the 

 width of the macular band, is a prototype of asferioides, Reakirt, from 

 Mexico. Constancy of marks on the wings and body of an insect, no 

 matter to what order it belongs, is undoubtedly bona fide evidence of the 

 stability of the species. 



We have evidence of European insects introduced into this country 

 becoming acclimatized and segregated in course of years, and a few of 

 these which we now find holding a local existence on such islands as 

 Anticosti and Newfoundland, may have in earlier times found it necessary 



