196 [NOVRMBER 



208, or considerably less in proportion, instead of much more, than it is 

 in e, /and d. (See above under the first distinctive character of con- 

 tracta.) 3/v7. See above under the second distinctive character of con- 

 tracta. Ath. In the figure of perspicua the apex of the right front 

 wing is scarcely produced at all, and that of the left front wing but very 

 slightly. In h they are produced fully as much as in the above fi"-ure, 

 and in i the right wing is produced a great deal more, with a deep ex- 

 cavation behind the apex, and the left wing not at all, with no excava- 

 tion whatever behind it. bfh. In d the irrorations are obsolete, and 

 subobsolete in <■. 6th. Making the length of the front wing 100, the 

 proportional distance from the middle of the terminal fringe to the 

 middle of the subterminal wing-band, from centre to centre, is in // 15, 

 in I 17, in a and h 18, in e 19, in c, d and /' 20, and in h 22. In con- 

 spiciia, according to Mr. Grote's own figure, it is only 21, or less, in- 

 stead of much more, than it is in h. Consequently all the above dis- 

 tinctive characters are connected by intermediate grades, and therefore 

 worthless. Neither is it true, as is stated in the description of perspi- 

 cua, that 7ni)u'sfr(i differs from per spicwi in the brown color of the an- 

 terior part of the thorax always " extending unicolorously over the pro- 

 thorax." For in d and g the anterior part of the brown patch is dis- 

 tinctly ferruginous, and in / and / it is less obviously so. Indeed Fitch 

 describes minisfra as having always "the fore part of the thorax bright 

 orange or tawny yellow, this color being deeper or brownish towards its 

 posterior edge." Like Mr. Walker. Messrs. Grrote& Robinson .seem to 

 have had but a very poor supply of material to work on. 



On the whole, even in the few specimens now before me, the above 

 characters are so inextricably intermixed, that if contrdcta and perspi- 

 cua are distinct species, then every one of the seven specimens before 

 me must also be a distinct species. The truth of the matter seems 

 to be, that ministra is a very variable species, and that collectors, as 

 they usually do, have seized hold of a few extreme varieties and for- 

 warded them to systematists, who have thus been deceived into treating 

 those extreme varieties as species. Dntana ronsplcua is confessedly 

 founded upon a single specimen, and we have but to refer to Dr. Fitch's 

 Vanessa Lintnerii and Natludis Irene, in order to perceive how dan- 

 gerous it is to found new species upon solitary specimens of variable 

 species. As to the former species. Dr. Morris concedes that it is pro- 

 bably a variety of .4/i^<'o^ja. As regards the latter, a few years ago 

 Nathalis lole swarmed near Rock Island ; and I took in profusion in 

 company with each other all the intermediate grades between the nor- 



