162 THE entomologist's record. 



inclines to the opinion that the insect is identical with P. melampns, 

 Fviessly. 



Ochsenheimcr (1807) is an authority of considerable importance 

 inasmuch as he deals with both cpiphron and cassiope, Treitschke says 

 that Ochsenheimer's specimens of epiphron came from Knoch himself, 

 so that there conld be no doubt about their identity. Ochsenheimer 

 says (Schmett. v. Europ., Bd. I., Abtheil. i., p. 258, No. 41) that, so far as 

 he knows, this butterfly is only met with in the Harz Mountains ; his 

 diagnosis and description are worth quoting in full. Diagnosis : " Alis 

 integi'is fuscis viridi nitentibus, fascia rufa, utrinque ocellis nigris pro 

 individuis numero diversis." Description : " The untoothed wings are, on 

 the upper surface, black-brown with a greenish gloss ; on the fore- 

 wings, near the hind margin, is a yellowish-red transverse band, which 

 is divided by the nervures into several blotches and in which are 

 found two, three or four black eyes, which in the female are larger and 

 have white centres, but mostly appear only as black spots of varying 

 size, although in none of the many specimens before me are they 

 entirely wanting. The hind-wings are oval and have in the middle of 

 the hind margin a projecting point ; along the margin are three or four 

 yellowish-red blotches, which often run together into a band only 

 divided by the nervures, and therein, as in the fore-wings, are black 

 spots or eyes, sometimes with white pupils. The underside is coloured 

 like the upper but is without the gloss. On the fore-wings the 

 yellowish-red band is only sharply defined along its outer margin, 

 passing inwards into the ground colour, so that often the whole area 

 to the base appears, more or less, yellowish-red. The spots or eyes 

 are as on the upper surface, and the same is the case with the hind- 

 wings." 



It will be noticed that three new characters ajjpear in this de- 

 scription : (1), a greenish gloss on the upper surface ; (2), a projection 

 from the centre of the hind margin of the hind-wings ; (3), the occurrence 

 of a reddish coloration over the disc of the fore-wings on the under 

 surface. 



We may then define the type as a butterfly in which, on the fore- 

 wings the band is on both surfaces continuous, and on the hind wings 

 consists of more or less coalescing blotches ; in which the ocelli are 

 sometimes, especially in the female, white-pupilled ; in which the disc 

 of the under surface of the fore- wings often has a more or less coppery 

 hue, and in which the red surroundings of the lilack spots are Avell in 

 evidence on the underside of the hind-wings. 



a. Var. melampus, Esp. — The first variety to get a name was that 

 which Esper between 1780 and 1786, described and figured {Europ. 

 Schmet., Th. 1, Bd. 2, p. 131, pi. 78, fig. 2). under the name of Pajnlio 

 melampns, supposing it to be identical with the butterfly to which 

 Fuessly had given that name in 1775. This form had alread}^ been 

 figured by Ernst and described by Engramelle in 1779 (Pap. d' Europe, 

 Tom. 1, p. 85, pi. 24, fig. 45), under the vernacular name of Le petit 

 nijgre d handes faiives, from Styrian specimens in Gerning's collection. 

 Esper speaks of it as found very commonly on the mountains of Pro- 

 vence, and as occurring also in Hungary and Styria, and notes tliat 

 Gerning had found it in 1766, in the Bernese AIjds. 



The characteristics of this form are to be found in the hind-wings, 

 which, on the upper surface, have only two tiny orange dots, and on 



