RILEY HACKBERRY BUTTERFLIES. 2C>3 



Herse, 718. P. S. Alis dentatis fusco ferrugineis : anticis albopuncta- 

 tis, posticis utrinque ocellis septem caecis. [p. 230.] 



Papilio Herse. Jon. fig. pict. 4, tab. 7, fig. 2. 



Habitat , Dom. Drurj. 



Corpus fusco ferrugineum. Aire anticae obscure ferrugine<e, pone medi- 

 um fascia emaculis sex punctisque quatuor apicis albis, subtus pallidiores. 

 Posticre fusco ferruginea: ocellis septem nigris iride ferruginea : secundo 

 tertioque pupilla ferruginea, reliquis caecis. Subtus pallidiores ocellis sep- 

 tem cceruleis iride flava, annulo nigro. 



It will be seen that, aside from minor shortcomings, the differ- 

 ence in average size between the two species is not stated ; noth- 

 ing is said of the underside of the bodies ; no sexual distinctions 

 are given, while the description of the spots on the primaries of 

 Herse as white is well calculated to mislead, for in all specimens 

 which I have seen they are distinctly bright ferruginous or "ochry- 

 vellow" as Boisduval describes them. The figure from which 

 the description was made, if it represents our species, must be 

 incorrect, or must have been made from an etiolated specimen. 

 As to the number of the spots, it varies on the primaries ; and 

 on the secondaries, while in both species the seven ocellar spots 

 are always distinct inferiorly, the first and last are often, one or 

 both, partly or entirely obsolete superiorly, so as to leave but 

 five or six. More generally six are visible in the 6* and five 

 only in the $ . The eighth inferior spot in Lycaon, as described 

 by Fabricius, can only refer to the small, more or less obsolete, 

 and almost always simple, oval spot on the middle of the inner 

 border. 



It is doubtful if, without the drawings, these Fabrician spe- 

 cies could have been satisfactorily determined ; so that Boisduval 

 can not be blamed for redescribing them. We should be justified 

 in ignoring such inadequate descriptions in a modern author ; but, 

 for many good reasons, it is the custom to make the best of those 

 of the older authors, who sometimes described a species in one 

 single word. 



Have we other Species of the Genus in the United States? 



Besides the two species of Apatura, the natural history of 

 which I have just detailed, three other supposed species have been 

 described, viz., A. Idyja Hiibn. (Doxocopa /., Exot. Schm.), A. 

 Proserpina Scudd. (Trans. Chic. Ac. Sc. I , p. 332), and A. Alt- 



