V 



CŒNONYMPHA TIPHON, Var ISIS, Thnb 



Except in the British Muséum, South Kensington Collection, 

 the only named examples of the var. isis, Thnb., I hâve seen are 

 in the National Collection at Stockholm. But on the occasion of 

 my visit there I made no particular note of them; only, I seem 

 to remember that they exactly corresponded with the extrême 

 laidioji-form of Scotland, which is not merely, as Mr. Wheeler 

 suggests {Butterfiies of Switzerland, p. 120), " the extrême form 

 as to paleness ", but according to Riihl has but a single eye on 

 the under side of the fore wing, and the obsolescent eyespots of 

 the under side of the hind wing small, and sometimes reduced in 

 number. Sven Lampa, also, disagrees with Mr. Wheeler's des- 

 cription (cp. Skandinaviens och Finlands Macrolepidoftera, 

 Stockholm, 1885). " Ofvan rostbrun ", he defines isis, " till 

 morkbrun utan oceller ", i. e., above rusty brown to dark brown, 

 without ocellation. Both thèse descriptions, then, would fit in ail 

 right with occasional Scotch laidion, but our British writers, at 

 ail events, do not include var. isis in the island fauna except as 

 an aberration, in the same way as we get laidion hère and there 

 turning up with the Middle Form ti-phon. 



It may be questioned, however, whether ïsh is entitled to 

 varietal rank at ail. Carolus P. Thunberg {Diss. Insecta Snecica, 

 Uusala, 1791), pupil and disciple of the great Linneus, may or 

 may not hâve studied von Rottemburg's Natiirforscher of 1775-77, 



