NYMPIIALINAE : VANESSA CARDUI. 477 



In the above description I have given the cliaracters of sinj^le individuals in order to 

 give the details without confusion ; for tliis species varies to nearly the same extent 

 and in much the same direction as its ally V. atalanta. The dots upon the surface often 

 assume a yellowisli or saftVon tint, extend, and sometimes become confluent, so as to 

 produce snulf colored individuals, very similar to the same form of atalanta; but they 

 are not nearly so connnon as tliere; sometimes also, as in that species, they are entirely 

 black, and the spines are very frequently l)lack, altiiougli tlieir bases may be of a 

 lighter tint. Tiiis description was drawn up in Euroi)e from European specimens. 



In an early, probably the third stage, the spines sire conical, about twice as high as 

 bi'oad, with only two to four sessile needhis, wliich are straight and not very long and 

 surmounted by a curved hair, fully twice the lengtli of the spine. Very commonly in the 

 third and fourth stages, the dorsal and laterodorsal spines of the second, fourth and 

 sixth abdominal segments are seated upon yellowish spots, those of the same row 

 often obscurely connected by longitudinal stripes, connecting their edges, of a greatly 

 infuscated yellow, frecpiently also, when the other spines are blackish or infuscated, 

 those specified above are yellowish or orange in tint. In one caterpillar, which I 

 found atNepigonon Anaphalis, the spines were white, seated on coral red papillae and 

 with black thoi-ns. 



The variations of American examples will be found described by Harris (Entom. 

 corresp., 277-279) and by Saunders (Can. ent. , i: 93-94). 



It may be distinguished from atalanta by the length of the hairs upon the head and 

 body, and the relative length of the apical portion of the spines to the basal portion. 



Chrysalis (83:60-62). Golden or greenish nacreous, or pale bluish white, the 

 wings more or less streaked with broad irregular bands of pale dirty brown, black in 

 the wrinkles, all directed parallel to the nervures ; basal wing tubercle marked with 

 black and golden running down its sides ; three or four black dots in the interspaces 

 parallel to but distant from the upper posterior border. Ocellarpi'ominences but little 

 protuberant; mesonotal median prominence not quite so high as in the other species. 

 Tongue pale brownish fuscous, deepening to blackish at the tip; the inside of the eyes 

 the same, narrowly edged outwardly with black ; antennae and inner edges of the 

 legs of the same color but a little paler, the former with a small squarish black spot 

 on either side of the tip of each segment ; legs Avith a roundish black spot on the 

 outer side of the tip of the tibiae, beside and above which the leg is golden, even in 

 the palest specimens. Almost the whole back is tinged with very pale dirty brown 

 (sometimes with a greenish tinge and occasionally on the fifth and succeeding abdom- 

 inal segments changing to livid brown) excepting a pretty lai-ge oval spot behind the 

 mesonotal median tubercle, a slender dorsal line on the abdomen and the laterodorsal 

 tubercles, which are of the brighter color; in the paler specimens all the tubercles are 

 tipped with gold. There is also a slender stigmatal band of pale dirty brown, besides 

 broader, very indistinct ventral and latero ventral bands of the same color; black 

 dots are sparsely scattered over nearly the whole doi'sal surface, but are seldom pres- 

 ent on the paler or brighter parts ; they are also found on the ventral surface of the 

 abdomen, but generally minuter, excepting a few larger ones arranged at the outer 

 edges of the ventral band, along the middle of the lateroventral band and just below 

 the stigmatal band, one in each segment near its middle ; suprastigmatal and infrastig- 

 matal rows of warts obsolete; basal and supernumerary wing tubercles not so pointed 

 as in the other species ; laterodorsal tubercle of the eighth abdominal segment nearly 

 or quite obsolete; spiracles concolorous with the body, with dull luteous lips; cre- 

 master pale, laterally edged with a heavy black line, the median groove above also 

 black; apical field of anal booklets nearly twice as long as broad. Length, 20.5-23 

 mm. ; of cremaster, 1.5-1.6 mm. ; greatest width, 7.25-7.5 ram. ; at ocellar promi- 

 nences, 3.6-3.85 mm. ; height at mesonotal prominence, 7.-7.15 mm. ; at base of abdo- 

 men, 5.5-6 mm. ; at third abdominal segment, 6.5-6.9 mm. 



Distribution (21 : 1 ) . The range of this butterfly is so extended as to 

 merit the term cosmopolitan. With the exception of the arctic regions 



