0\ TWO VARIABLE RROODS OF TRIPH.f:XA COMES. 219 



classify 86 or 37 as belonging to this intermediate series, and the 

 remaining 19 ov 20 as true ab. ni;/n'srens, but it is purely a question 

 of degree. Most of these rnfD-ninresn'iis, Tutt," are rather weakly 

 marked, and the brown hue is the product of a very perfect blending 

 of the red and black over the entire wing-surface — a contrast to the 

 irregular black blotching of the 11 mentioned before. It is worthy of 

 note, as illustrating some possible influence of temperature conditions 

 in modifying the variation, that no less than 83 of the niftt-uiiirfsccm 

 (cia-tixii, st'us. sty.) are in my portion of the brood, and only tlaree or 

 four in Mr. Bacot's ; while, on the other hand, he has some thirteen 

 or fourteen of the deeper niijrt'.sceus, and I only six. The pale out- 

 lining of the stigmata and the pale " elbowed " line are traceable in 

 all the 93 curt mi (sem. lat.), and well-pronounced in all but a very 

 few. Although, as already mentioned, the hindwings of all show 

 some degree of infuscation, there is not a single example of the 

 extreme ab. ni(/)a, Tutt (" posterior and anterior wings almost 

 uniformly black"). 



Brood B (parent ? of August 28th, 1902, ? ab. riifo-nitirescem = 

 cnrtisii, sens. str.). — Comparatively few of this very interesting brood 

 were successfully brought through ; there are only 61 in all, 32 

 reared by Mr. Kaye, fourteen by Mr, Walker, and fifteen by myself. 

 Mine emerged between January 13th and 30th, Mr. Kaye's between 

 January 25th and February 23rd. Like brood A, they split up with 

 perfect ease into the two main classes, 39 being of the " type " m the 

 broadest sense (though very variable) and 22 of the melanic aberra- 

 tions ; the distinction of the infuscation or otherwise of the hind- 

 wings again holds absolutely. My fifteen measure the same size, on 

 an average, as my portion of brood A ; Mr. Kaye's, evidently through 

 some difference of treatment, are considerably smaller, his largest (a 

 grey specimen) measuring 40mm., his smallest two (both rufous, not 

 melanic) barely 31mm., the average expanse being about 36mm. He 

 tells me they were kept at an average temperature of 65° by day and 

 60° at night. 



The typical, or non-melanic section shows greater diversity than 

 that of brood A. Fourteen of them should probably be referred to 

 the aberration pallida of Tutt {Kntmn., xxii., pi. vi., figs. Al and A2), 

 and mostly have the stigmata well defined and in brighter reddish, 

 though there are one or two exceptions. Two belong rather to ab. 

 t/risea, one of these being more tinged with pinkish (? sub-ab. nifn- 

 (/risea, Tutt), the other of a more decided grey. One specimen is of 

 a dull reddish-brown, or somewhat of a chestnut shade, and with the 

 dark stigmata, subterminal, iVc, rather strongly expressed; it is a 

 difficult specimen to classify, but, though rather dark, cannot be 

 regarded as in any way forming a true transition to the no-tisii series ; 

 nor is it quite sufficiently variegated to meet the description of ab. 

 proseijua, Tr. The remainder (22 specimens) are all more or less of a 

 light red tint, coming roughly under the head of ab. niffscens, Tutt 

 {Knt., xxii., pi. vi., fig. Bl, and ? B2) ; only two of these have the 



• From Cnrtis's figure (Brit. Knt., pi. H48) I judge that this is the true ab. 

 citrtidi, Newm. Both Clark {lor. cit.) and Tutt (Brit. Xoct., ii. p. 98) have referred 

 series C of the former gentleman's breeding ^the claret-red forms) to cnrtisii. but 

 the original figure is much nearer the colour of figs. 1)1 and D2 of Clark, with very 

 little red, excepting very narrowly on the eosta. 



