THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS IXO OF LEACH. 99 



UrticcB. Moreover, Trben we find tliat sometimes Vanessa 

 lo has a black middle spot, we can be the less disposed to 

 lay stress upon it as a specific character. It is just the same 

 with the yellow dorsal spot, which indeed in the Corsican 

 specimens is almost as frequently there as not ; whence 

 throuo*hout we find that the Vanessa Ichnusa of Corsica is 

 less typical than that of Sardinia. The larv£e of Vanessa 

 Ichnusa, which I found by hundreds, also show a difference 

 of colour, since they are m.uch darker than those of Vanessa 

 TJrtkcs generally are with us. In the rather hot year 1859 

 I found here at Dresden a nest of larvse of Vanessa Urtic(e, 

 which were almost as dark as those of Ichnusa, and it is a 

 remarkable fact, that in that same year a collector here bred 

 several specimens of Vanessa Urticce without any trace of a 

 middle spot. Safyrus Sanifa, Xordm., in like manner can 

 only be viewed as a variety of Safyrus Anthe, O., because 

 Kindermann took in the Caucasus all possible intermediate 

 forms, the latter indeed much more plentiful than the typical 

 Satyrus JELanifa with the fasciag entirely yellow. 



As colour is often a very fallacious character for the dis- 

 tinction of species, most especially amongst the species of 

 the genus Ino, I endeavoured, particularly as these insects are 

 quite destitute of markings, to find other diflPerences based on 

 organic structure. The venation I found was quite unadapted 

 for specific characters, for the modifications which occurred 

 in it were quite insignificant, even in specimens which cer- 

 tainly did not belong to the same species. In what concerns 

 the form of the wing and the so-called habit, both are often 

 too apt to vary in the same species to be able to furnish 

 good distinctive characters. Likewise, notwithstanding all 

 my researches, I could find no specific differences in the legs 

 and palpi. There remained then only the antennse, in which, 

 from the first, I had placed the greatest confidence, since they 



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