4 Is Vanessa PohjcJiloros 



given ill the * Entomologist ' vi. 88 : — " In the sprmg of last 

 year I took the larvae of what I considered to be F. Urticce 

 feeding on nettles, and from time to time added other larvsB 

 of Urticce in the same breeding-cage kept for nettle-feeders 

 only ; to my surprise a nmnber of the imagos resembled 

 PohjchJoros in colom* and markings, keeping the size of VrticcB. 

 I submit them to you for your your remarks. There was no 

 apparent difference in the larv« that I observed while feeding. 

 —James A. Tawell, Earl's Colne, March 11th, 1872." The 

 late Mr. Newman headed this note *' Polychloros Larvae feeding 

 on Nettle," and described the butterflies as follows : — " These 

 specimens have a wonderful similarity to Urticce^ which they 

 do not at all exceed in size ; still the colour is nearer to that 

 of Polychloros than that of Urticce ; and the black spot at the 

 anal angle of the fore wing is present, as in Polychloros ; the 

 white spot on the costa of Urticce is absent, also as in Poly- 

 chloros." Some of these specimens were presented to 

 Mr. Newman, and, as we are informed by Mr. B. T. Lowne, 

 are now in the collection of the Entomological Club. — En.] 



Discussion, 



The President stated that Mr. White's query was, in his 

 opinion, very suggestive, but he was disposed to think that 

 it was hardly based upon a sufficiently broad view of the 

 true state of affairs with respect to the genus under con- 

 sideration. 



The facts are that our native " Tortoiseshells " are repre- 

 sentatives of a genus comprising about two dozen or more 

 species ranging throughout Europe, Asia, and North and 

 South America ; or, in other words, throughout the greater 

 portion of the Pal^earctic, Nearctic, Neotropical, and Oriental 

 zoological regions. Now F. Polychloros and F. UrticcB are two 

 of a group of species more or less resembling them in colour 

 and marking, this group being linked by a large number of 

 intermediate forms with our C-album or " Comma " butterfly. 

 He had thought the matter of sufficient interest to draw up 

 the following hst of species, showing the transition in 

 question : — 



