70 

 SATYRIDAE 



COENONYMPHA CALIFORNIA West. & Hew. 



Edwards treats California, or, as it is usually misspelled, calif or- 

 nica, as the summer generation of the spring form galactimis Bdv. ; 

 unfortunately for Edwards' reasoning a recent examination of the 

 types of California in the British Museum by Dr. McDunnough has 

 shown that these represent the form with dark underside, i. e. the 

 spring form. What galactimis Bdv. really is we are unable to say not 

 having seen the type which should be with M. Oberthur; Boisduval 

 evidently only knew California from Hewitson's figure which is poor 

 and described his galactimis as being of a white color a little yellower 

 than that of California but the description cannot be definitely inter- 

 preted to refer to either the spring or the summer form ; on the face 

 of it Dr. Skinner in his revision of the genus (Tr. Am. Ent. Soc. 

 XXVI, 301 ) would seem to be correct in claiming the name galactimis 

 for the summer form but the type locality given by Boisduval (Moun- 

 tains of North California) would possibly preclude a second genera- 

 tion. Dr. Skinner places ceres Butl. as a synonym of galactimis; ac- 

 cording to Sir Geo. Hampson (in litt.) the type of ceres agrees exactly 

 with that of California. 



Eryngii Hy. Edw., described from Soda Spgs., Siskiyou Co., 

 Calif., represents a race without ocelli on the underside; Dr. McDun- 

 nough, who spent the season of 1915 collecting in this locality, found 

 the species rare during the first half of June but all specimens cap- 

 tured showed either no ocelli or the mere traces of them so we imagine 

 the form is fairly constant and the name should be retained; it is true 

 that the number of spots on the underside of Coenonympha species is 

 very variable and unspotted specimens doubtless occur in other locali- 

 ties, making the presence or absence of such spots a poor means of 

 differentiation, but where the unspotted form has become more or 

 less constant and has developed therefore into a race such a change 

 should not in our opinion be disregarded. 



Pulla Hy. Edw. which is described as being of a dark fawn color 

 above and a dull brown beneath is another form about which little 

 is known. 



Wright's figures (Butt. W. Coast, PI. XXV) of this entire group 

 are quite unreliable and should be completely disregarded by collectors 

 trying to identify their material. 



