80 ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Var. Matronai.is, Freyer, N. Beitr., 405, (1831-1858). Hubner, {Plantaginix) Sam. Eur. Schmett., 238, (1793-1827). 



Var HosPiTA Scliitieriiiiller, Svst. Ver/... 310, (1776). Oschenheimer, Sdimelt. Eur., Ill, 314, ; 1810). Esper, (Plantaginii) 



3G, (1777-17941. BtiinCT, Sam. Eur. Schmelt., 126, (1793-1827). 

 Var. Petrosa, Walker, Cat. Brit. Mus., Ill, 620, (1855). 



Eupsi/choma Geomelrica, Grote, Proo. Ent. Soc ,_ I'liila., [V, p. 318, t. II, (1865). 

 Eupsijc.hnma Geomelroides, QrrAe tt liobinson, List N. Am. Le\>., p. vii, (1865). 



I would here ?av a few woriin, more or lcs.i, regarding our American examples; the .single types of (.'a;spitis and Cichorii, which 

 were taken in California by M. Luripiin. present no diflerences from some of ihe endless variations found in Europe; Cic.«pilis is like 

 one of the common varieties that has the basal half of the second.-iries black, and Cichorii, really, has no points in particular to distin- 

 Kiiisli it from the ordinary European examples; not even its size will save it, as I have trans- .\tlantic examples equally as small, and one 

 daumlin" still smaller; it may not be out of place here to quote in full the author's remarks which follow his technical description of 

 Cichorii. "This species is .smaller than N. Caespilis, and however variable in ornamentation it may prove to he, will be readily distin- 

 guished by tlie black fringes and clear yellow bands of the upper surface of primarie.s. The larva' of these species are stated to be quite 

 distinct and to be found on ditlerent food plants." * The black fringes may distinguish it from the single example which served as the 

 foundation for Ctcspitis, but they won't separate it froni any number of European examples, one of which, now before me, has ihe fringes 

 on all wini's black, another has the fringes black and yellow, according as these colours on the surface extend to the margin, the like 

 colours also pi'ovail on the fringes; the same applies lo the var. Hosjjita, both PZiiropean and American examples. As regards ditlerence 

 of larva; and food plant ; if the student chooses to confine himself to closet study, entirely neglecting to see nature under more favourable 

 circiimslances, he must not be disappointed if error is the result; I thought that the omnivorous appetite of the .Vrctian larvie was too 

 well known for any one to base specific distinctions on what they eat; 1 have had them to feed on anything from gra.ss to an old green 

 pasteboard box, and I doubt if a green thing exists that they would not attempt to digest if you give them a chance. Too much stre.ss is 

 also often laid on ditit'rence in appearance of caterpillars, and that too in the face of the fact that same s|)ecies in various genera are pro- 

 duced from larvae presenting most remarkable differences of colouration ; it is needless to enumerate such; it will be sufficient to refer to 

 Eac. Imperialis, Thyreus Abbotii, various Graptas, etc., etc., nor can I well see why there should not be variation in the larva> of the 

 same species, as well as in the imago. 



We now come to var. Petrosa, examples of which I have as yet seen none from Europe, though I have litlledoubt but that they may occur 

 there ; this is the form re-described later by .Mr. Grote, as Geometrica, who allied it to Ctcnucha and created the genus Enpsychorna for 

 its reception, placing it in the Zyga;nidae ! t That Mr. Walker should have considered it a distinct species is not so much a matter of 

 surprise, he probably not having seen the many intermediate varieties, but to create, as Mr. Grote did, a new genus for a Neineophila, 

 and place it with the Zygtenida?, is aliout out-IIeroding Hei'od. Why the specific name was changed to Geometroides, in G. & R's Li.st 

 N. Am. Lcp., I do not know; in the original description and plate it is Geometrica, but whatever name was meant to be retained "is 

 comparatively of little moment," since this Zygsenid Arctian ally of Eudryas must lower its pretensions and fall back to Stephen's genus 

 Nemeophila and Walker's name of Pelro.sa, and stand thus: Nemeophila Plantaginis L., var. Petrosa, Wlk. 



The wonderful and countless variations occurring among the Arctians are too well known to need more than a passing notice, but I 

 cannot refrain from citing a few; on t. 5, Illustrations Zyg. et. Bombyc, by K, II. .Streich, are 1(5 figures representing nine varieties of 

 Leptarctia Lena, Boisd., and they are most astonishingly dissimilar, some having primaries grey and secondaries yellow with plain black 

 margin, some have secondaries spotted in various w.ays, some have them red, others have .secondaries all black, and wliite spots or bars 

 on primarie.s, and in my possession are eighteen examples received from the author of the above work, all of "which are diflerent, more 

 or less, from his figures; one has all the wings entirely black on upper surface. On t. 3 of same work are three figures of Epicallia Vir- 

 ginalis, Boisd., one with yellow secondaries having broken black bands, one with black .secon<laries with ochraceous .spots, and the third, 

 with the exception of a "few small spots, has the secondaries entirely black, and in the eight examples in my cabinet ai-e all sorts of 

 intermediate forms between these. Of Arctia Caja L., the varieties are almost endless; they have red hind wings, orange ones and yel- 

 low ones, with three spots, five spots, six spots, si)ots and bands, spots connected and spots isolated, one exanijile from British .Vm. has 

 the ui)per wings almost entirely brown, the white being reduced to tine lines; and there are examples in which the upper wings are 

 entirely brown and the lower ones entirely black. But to return to Plantaginis; I have received, at various times, of European and 

 American examples, twenty-seven of the onlinary form in many variations, besides of var. Hospita, six from Europe and five from 

 Colorado and Xevada, of var. Petrosa nine from Colorado, Nevada, etc ; some of these latter have the secondaries entirely black, and 

 with three white, disconnected marks on primaries; others have a white anal spot on secondaries, and four pale marks on primaries, 

 connected (all except the :^pot within the cell, which is always free,) in some instances and in others not, one example hits the two of the 

 white marks connected in one of the primaries, whilst on the opposite wing the same marks are not united ; in some there is so much 

 pale patching that it becomes hard to say to which variety they belong, whether to Hospila or Petrosa. 



Of Hospita, I believe the first examples found on this continent were taken by .Mr. Mead, who captured quite a number of both that var. 

 and Petrosa in Colorado ; of the latter I also received specimens taken by Mr. Drexler many years since, and by the Wheeler Exped. of 

 1871, as well as from others at various times. I noticed also an example, among a number of unspread Kocky Mt. Lep., in the coll. 

 of Mr. Schonborn, in Washington ; this also was from the Rooky Mts., and is very close to the type of Petrosa. 



March 17, 1874. 



PARNASSIUS SMINTHEUS, Dbldy. — I was formerly a strong advocate of the distinctness of this form from the Alpine P. 

 Delius, Esp., but this will only serve as another illustration of the folly of arriving at such conclusions without the fullest material for 

 comparison, for having lalely received examples of P. Intermedins, Men., from the Altai Mts., S. W. .Siberia, which is by all European 

 authorities considered to be but a variety of P. Delius, I can only add that our Rocky Mt. P. Smintheus is also but a form of Delius, 

 as between the examples of Smintheus from Colorado and Montana, and the lately received Intermedins from .\ltai, there is simply 

 no difli-'rence whatever, they are identical ; and so sure were the trans-Atlantic Lepidopterisis of this fact, that in the great Cata- 

 logues of both Staudinger and Kirby, Smintheus is cited as a variety of Delius; and Mr. Hewitson has repeatedly expressed to me 

 the same opinion. 



* Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, I, p. 338, (1868), Grote & Robinson. 



t " A. Zvgsenid genus allied to Ctenucha and presenting some analogies in the neureation to Eudryas." Grote, Proc. Ent. Soc, Phil., 

 IV, p. 317, (1865). 



