EREBIA LEFEBVRI, BtV., ON CANIGOU. 77 



Erebia lefebvrei, Bdv., on Canigou. 



By G. T. BETHUNE-BAKER, F.L.S., F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



As already recorded {antea p. 53 et seq.), I found Erebia lefebvrei 

 very plentiful on Canigou in July 1912, and the forms are so variable 

 (within limits) and interesting, that it may be worth while to go into 

 some detail with them. It may be well to state that apparently K. 

 lefebvrei (type form) does not occur there, i.e., out of close on two 

 hundred specimens taken by Mr. Johnson and myself not one 

 of the fine largely ocellated form was captured by either of us. 

 Monsieur Charles Oberthur has very kindly lent me IBoisduval's type 

 specimens, ^ and ? , from his magnificent collection for comparison, 

 as w^ell as others, which have been of great assistance to me. As long 

 ago as 1884, M. Oberthiir dealt very fully and effectively in the eighth 

 volume of the h'ttides, p. 19 et seq., with the various forms of the 

 species, and again also in his Lqndupterolof/ie Comparee, vols. 3 and 4, 

 so that there is very little to be said so far as their localities and 

 differences are concerned. M. Calberla {Iris, ix., p. 357) has shown, 

 by a comparison of the male armatures of FL melos and FJ. lefebvrei, that 

 the two insects are distinct species, whilst Dr. Chapman has strongly 

 emphasised this fact in his " Eeview of the genus Erebia " (Trdtm. 

 Ent. Sue, 1898, p. 225), and again in the same Transactions (1908, 

 p. 307). It is thus abundantly confirmed that the two are not one 

 species, but are two good and distinct species. It is also, I think, 

 correct to saj- that E. luelas does not occur in Western Europe, whilst 

 E. lefebvrei does not occur in Eastern Europe. 



I do not propose to mention Fl. ulacialis, an allied species, more 

 than to say that it frequents, on the whole, the stoniest and the highest 

 localities of the three species. Erebia melas occurs in very stony 

 localities, from 3,300ft. to about 5,000ft. Erebia lefebvrei occurs, as a 

 rule, though not universally, in yet more stony places from about 

 6,000ft. up to 9,000ft., whilst Erebia (/lacialis occurs on absolute screes — 

 I have never taken it away from screes and moraines — from probably 

 6,500ft. to 10,000ft. I have taken it on the top of the Gornergrat, not 

 uncommonly. 



To return to FJ. lefebvrei. M. Oberthiir, in the Etudes {loc. tit.) 

 described the form astur from the Picos de Europa, from whence my 

 specimens came. It is entirely black above and below, the primaries 

 generally having two small ocellations below^ the apex. I have one 

 specimen with a very small third dot above vein 2, all are visible 

 below, but the latter only as a black dot. Below, however, the 

 secondaries are blacker than the primaries, there is very rarely any 

 trace of the tawny patch in the primaries. I have one specimen 

 showing only the least trace of paleness where this patch should be. 

 The female does not diiier appreciably above from the male, but below 

 it is greyish and often has a somewhat tawny patch in the primaries. 



The form pyrenaca, Obth., described in the same place, is more 

 variable, and it is common on Canigou, in fact the form figured in 

 vol. iv. of the Etudes (PI. xlvi., figs. 370, 372 and 373) is the commonest 

 form, though we get all the other forms as occasional varieties with 

 the exception of the type race, that is, the large beautifully spotted 

 race of the Hautes Pyrenees. Pyrenaea may be described as black 

 April 8th, 1914. 



