4 LYC.ENA 11., III. 



Since the publication of Vol. I., in -wliicli Pseudargiolus, Neglecta, and Vlola- 

 cea were given as three distinct species, their history has come to be tlioroughly 

 known, and it is found that they, together with Lticia and other forms, constitute 

 one polymorphic species, which has possession of the broad continent, from the 

 boreal regions to Mexico. The history is so peculiar that I have concluded to 

 devote two Plates to the phases of the butterfly and its biology. It was not pos- 

 sible, while Vol. I. was in hand, and before the preparatory stages of any of 

 these forms had been discovered, to know that they comprised but a single spe- 

 cies, and till such time they were rightly regarded as distinct. On the first Plate 

 are represented typical examjiles of each of the principal forms of the butterfly, 

 •with such striking varieties as I have been able to obtain ; and these figures, in 

 connection with the two Plates in Volume I., illustrate the species fully. 



The general history is as follows : — 



1. In the high boreal regions, the species is one-brooded, and at the same time 

 dimorphic, the two forms mider which it manifests itself being Lucia and Viola- 

 cea. Lucia (Figs. 1, 2) has been received from Youcon River, from Lake Win- 

 nipeg, and Anticosti. Kirby's type specimen was taken in lat. 54°, though the 

 exact locality is not given. Violacea (Figs. 5, 6) flies at St. Michael's, Alaska, 

 and on Anticosti. 



2. At about lat. 45°, the more moderate climate allows a second generation to 

 mature during the same season, and this is made up of the iorm JSFeglecta. (Figs. 

 lO^to 12.) The first, or winter, generation now becomes tri-morphic, by the 

 development of a form intermediate between Lucia and Violacea, viz., 3fargi- 

 nata (Figs. 3, 4), and these three, together v/lih. Nerjlecta, inhabit the country at 

 least as far south as Long Island. 



3. At about lat. 39\ on the Atlantic, two of the forms of the first generation are 

 found to have been suppressed, viz., Lucia and Marginata, and the third alone, 

 Violacea, remains to represent that generation. But it is somewhat altered, 

 the blue color having become darker, and the under surface purer white ; and it 

 has developed an entirely new form of its own, restricted to one sex, viz., the 

 black male. (Fig. 7.) This was figured in Vol. I. as female. On its discovery, in 

 1867, I took it to be female without question, as melanism in butterflies, when 

 confined to one sex, is almost invariably found in the female. Especially is this 

 the case in Lycjena, and I am informed by Mr. A. G. Butler that there is no other 

 species of Lyctena known in which the melanic dimorphic form is male. In 

 1878, I was led to make an examination of the frenital organs of one of these 

 black examples, and found it to be male. Since then I have made very many 

 examinations, in successive years, and have not seen a melanic female. 



4. But in lat. 40', at the west, in Colorado, the original forms Lricia and 



