LÉPIDOPTEROLOGIE COMPARÉE II7 



tiphon in Ireland, Barrett writes {The Lepidoftera of the British 

 Islands). 



" On the heaths of the North of Ireland, and in the far west 

 at Killarney, it has the gênerai character of the mountain form, 

 agreeing" m the colour of the under side, and in the indistinctness 

 of the spots above and below, but is more tinged with ashy; with 

 thèse are others in which the under side of the hind wings is 

 dusted with g<^lden brown, or reddish and intermediate shades, 

 and the upper side beconies of a brownish fulvous or tawny, while 

 the spots of the under side are, variably, more distinct, and they 

 become slightly more noticeable above. Thèse darker forms lead 

 to those which belong more particularly to boggy heaths, and 

 " mosses " (= var. tiphon) ". 



I hâve not seen any examples from the extrême north of Ire- 

 land. At any rate, those before me from the Lough Fea district 

 of Tyrone show no tendency to assume " the mountain form, " 

 by which I take it Barrett indicates laidion; being unaware appa- 

 rently of its occurrence in Scotland at sea-level or thereabouts. 

 In fact, though I know it unwise to dogmatise on this subject, the 

 tiphon of Ireland when fresh are generally as near typical as 

 any of this form in the United Kingdom. 



" It is true " says Mr. Kane also {loc. cit.) " that I hâve at 

 Killarney, Westmeath, Galway and Sligo met with single spé- 

 cimens of the var. laidion; but the Irish usual form is well 

 ocellated, frequently of a dingy brown coloration, and is dis- 

 tinctly a transitional form between the two extrêmes. It is inte- 

 resting that the characters presented do not much differ over such 

 wide tracts of bog and moor ". Hc also remarks (z« ////.). " On 

 the upper side, however, it varies from the dark ferruginous tone 

 of some localities to the ashy pale brown of others which some- 

 times approach the Scotch form, so that unless you bave a séries 

 from various localities, it is hard to grasp the range of modcrate 

 variation met with ". 



After examining a fair number of examples from various parts 

 of the country, I can endorse Mr. Kane's remarks; yet the 



