A LETIDOPTERISt's summer in central ITALY. 281 



coloured anal shield is a feature only belonging to theab. esterella. His 

 description of the imagines is good, and he states that the ab. esterella 

 is almost as abundant as the form peucedanella. Judging from his 

 description, and from the specimens in the Stainton collection, his 

 neat figure of pettcedanella is too light in colour [Ami. 8oc. Sc. 

 Nat. Cannes, p. 13, pi. x., figs. 14 and 15, 1880*). 



A Lepidopterist's Summer in Central Italy. 



By GEORGE WHEELEE, M.A., F.E.S. 

 {Concluded from p. 253). 



On July 27th we drove to Gubbio and back across the Apennines, 

 35 miles each way, starting at 4 a.m. This would be a most interest- 

 ing district entomologically, but my opportunities of testing it were 

 very limited. The following species, however, I made sure of, either 

 by actual capture, or by seeing them too close to be mistaken. 

 Erynnis alceae, Nisoniades tages, Augiades si/lranus, Tlnjuielicus 

 acteon, Agriades coridon, Polyoiii)iiatt(s icarus, Flebeiiis aegon, Celastrina 

 argiolns, Piens brassicae, Pontia daplidice, Leptosia sinapis, Colias 

 ediisa, C. hyale, Pyrantels atalanta, ^"anessa io, Polygonia egea, Pararge 

 megaera, Satyrus herniiojie, Hipparcliia bn'seis, H. seinele, Epinephele 

 jnrtina, Coenonynipha pamphilns, Melanargia galatea, and either Pieris 

 rapae or P. inafini, as well as a black and white skipper, probably 

 a large form of Hesperia titalvae or possibly however H. alveus or a 

 small H. carthami. 



On July 28th a fresh brood of Melitaea didyma began to appear on the 

 cemetery road, at Assisi, both $ s and 2 s being typical, and showing no 

 tendency either towards the weridionalis or the occidentalis forms ; this 

 continued to be common throughout August. On the same day 1 took 

 a very pronounced example of Melanargia galatea ab. leucomclas, which 

 however is unfortunately far from perfect, having lost a largish piece 

 of one forewing. On the following day the first specimen of a new 

 brood of Melitaea phoehe made its appearance, and, on July 30th and 

 following days, I found it abundantly on the vetch-fields, in the plain 

 south of the town. It is a smallish, rather lightly marked, form, with 

 a bright fulvous unicolorous ground, nearer to some of the Spanish 

 than to the usual Swiss forms, but without any tendency to the 

 occitanica colouring, except very occasionally a slightly lighter yellow 

 here and there. These same fields were swarming with Plebeius aegon, 

 a second-brood, differing in most specimens from the first by its 

 lighter underside, which in some specimens is quite white. This is 

 the first time 1 have come across a second brood. of this species, but it 

 was abundant here, and I found it also common at Perugia, Orvieto, 

 and Siena. Almost equally common in the same fields, was a new 

 brood of PolyoiiiDiattis icanis, the J s of a deep rich royal blue, some 

 specimens being markedly of the celina form, with a row of black spots 

 round the hindwing ; the undersides are of a smoky-brown, and the 

 specimens very large; the ? s, on the other hand, are by no means 

 large, but the orange is well-marked, forming a continuous band on 

 both wings on the underside, the ground colour of which is a rich 



* Milli^re's contributions to this Society have been published separately, under 

 the title of " Milliere, Lepiodopterologie." 



