172 



triangular, terminal, half as long as the body, outer angle rounded. 

 Internal plate long, very slender, Avidest in the middle, tapering 

 both ways, median ridge as high as the lateral plate, conical por- 

 tion at the base, minute, laterally compressed, tip curved. 



Color, light yellowish-brown, on the under surface and inside of 

 the arms ; back purplish-brown, nearly black on the median line 

 and the posterior portion of the head, caused as in the preceding 

 species, by the peculiar arrangement of dark spots. On the back 

 of the fins these spots are of two sizes — large ones surrounded by 

 an uncolored space, and small ones of a lighter color, interspersed. 



Length of horny plate, 3-2 inches ; width, -15 inches ; length of 

 ternunal cone, -15 inches ; circumference of body, 2 inches ; length 

 of fin, 1'6 inches ; breadth of fins, 24 inches; length of longest ses- 

 sile arm, 1-5 inches ; length of shortest, -9 inches ; length of ten- 

 tacle, 2-1 inches. 



Said to have been caught ofi" Cape Horn. 



Ajyril 21st, 1862. 

 President in the Chair. 



Dr. H. Behr read the following paper : 



Our Calif ornian Argynnides. — The genus Argynnis is one of 

 the most natural ones in its group, and it is so well defined in its 

 characters that the boundaries between it and neighboring genera 

 are nearly the same with all authors. 



But that very facility we find in circumscribing the genus, is a 

 great disadvantage, when we come to draw the Unes between the 

 different species. The easy definition of the genus has its ciuse 

 in an unusually great uniformity of character. Even the well 

 examined and since long time known species of Central Europe are 

 in some instances doubtful. 



In studying our CaHfornian species the perplexity is the greater, 

 as the scarcity of the material in collections has produced a series 

 of diagnosis that occasionally refer to varities instead of the regu- 

 lar form. For the purpose of avoiding to render greater the confu- 

 sion that does exist, we will give only numbers with the diagnosis of 

 species that we were not able to ascertam from the descriptions 

 that were within our reach. 



1. Argynnis calippe Bd. 



I find nothing to add to the masterly diagnosis and description 

 of this species. It is the only Argynnis that is found near our city 



