^06 NOTES ON VARIOUS SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



1 . ,;\"rr''' ••';'•''''' ^'."n' ^;''°^-.E"'- hoc Plula., II, p. 335, T. 8 (1863), in, without doubt, a melanotic varietv of Arctia Persephone 

 nrJL^'^dpl^^L^ """^ "^ ° ""' uncommon occurrence among the Arctians ; I have seen them of Caja, Figurata^lZ:, 



^^ H. Kdwards, but this latter I have not yet had sufficient opportimi.v to examine in nature, to sneak of with anv certaintv Vn 

 analogous ca.se is pre.sented in Argynms Alaandra, Men., which is an aberrant .Vsiatic form of A. Agla'a, Linn. ' ' 



lo^ ti • ,<^';^'''^""l'E^'^^,^^ •■> ker. 1 have previously remarked the close affinity of this specie.s with the Rus.sian C Pacta L 

 (on p. 40) ; this lat er, except that it is smaller and has the abdomen rosy, resembles verv closelv our species. Mv friend Mr Paul 

 Knetz.ng, .sent me this winter from Mon.real Canada, an example of Ccmcu,nhcns which, to mv unbounded astonishment ha's'theabdo 

 men rose-red. precisely like the hind wings, thus making its resemblance to Pacta almost perfect. I receircd also, about the sametine 

 from Canada another ei.amp le with the abdomen r, sy, but mixed with grey; and mv friends, the Messrs. Pearson write me from 

 Mon real that thev have likewise an example " with the body red, just like the Pacta whi-ch vou sent us." The red-bodie.l "I "cu» H 

 which I received ihfler in no other point whatever from the ordinary form, which is seldom subject to any variation. <'0«'^'"«'«''" 



a<lvunce^IhL^sof TrTnt'Am.''EnSc.:"' "' '" ""'^°' ''''''""■' "'«'"'^'^''' ^bscura ?. I here insert his description, published in 

 "This species is intimately related with C. obscura, somewhat as C. residua with C. insolabilU. C. residua has blackish fringes the 

 general color o the primaries is dusky ashen, without the linear deepening in color above internal margin of C. .W^*; wbUe he 

 whitish grav sub ermmal shade contrasts will, the dusky lone of the wing. This specie.s ha.s also a black obTi,,ue subapical sh de bev, nd 

 the subterm.na line more or less distinctly tuilowing the teeth of the line and apparent sometimes within the line folIowin<^ the two 

 prominent teeth ol the t. p. line. This black shading is wanting in C. oh.cura and C. si,nu!.,tili,, which agree in trg.rral^To/v Is ,en 

 primaries and the white tr.nges to the himl wing>, but mav be separated by the course of the l. p. line. This, in C s<mX,7 is m c 

 a. m C residua and the other species, with two very prominent teeth and wide open subreniform, whereas, in C. obscZa^teVZ^ 

 perpendicular and presents a series of hne teeth. The resemblance is otherwise so great between the t^o that other c om aris.m or 

 description seems unnecessary. Since I onlv know males of O. obscura and females of 0. slmulatHis, I thought that niv sv.ec me, ot" the 



),v. f, "V"' ""''f '.'"' '^''•""J'"='"'«^^.I «^'.'°''" f'.'^' a"tl>or described his species at all ; he worked on entirelv too scant material and lavs 

 by far too much stress on he peculiarities of his - 1. p. lines." At present are before me thirtv examples if C. Obscura, <l ? ncl dh g 

 tlie onginal types ; one ot lhe.se, a male, has the .sub-reniform almost clo.sed, all the others have it open, some widelv .S o hers of 

 moderately; the " ■ P- line" is, in U examples, .5 (^ 9 9, with two very prominent teeth, h, 16 e.xam\des, cT' ?, with on v one pr mi- 

 ent tooth like in he figure on PI. Ill ; so this ceases, at any rate, to be "a sexual diflL-rence." As to the pcSpei dicilarit; of the line 

 n difleicnt ex-.;iinples they api.ear to be like in a battalion of country militia-each one varving in position ; in some instances the tu 

 line and t. a. line are almost conHuen. at the inner margin, and in one instance quite so. As I general colour 7prima"il it varies 

 much, m some instances being almost black, especially on the area interior to the sub-terminal linl. pnmarie., it varies 



o.l„„. f- '■ ^'"''^ '■""';'■'■ ?",'"'!_"°1. '■"'•"'"'■.C'. /n.TO/a6i7,«, Guenee,- which is a species that varies much in the depth of ground 

 colour of primaries, and in the dark shadinir of their inner mar.'in ' grounu 



,l,e b,!.';,hr/ol"°l *-'"V""^' """,'"^1^ "^'ig'" ''f^ 1"^™ «"«cl>ed by Mr. Grote to whether the snb-renilorm be open or closed, also to 

 1 e liea.lth ol the bands ol secondaries, and to whether the mesial extends to the abdominal margin or not ; the fol owin.. will show how 

 utterly valueless would be iliagnoses foundeil on the.se points- iuii.-«ii.^ , now now 



with i!"cr!T'',''r"'l''''''i *"'' S' ^"'"""" ^- ""'• • "■? '""'f ^","^ """''^' '■^'""'^^'^ «■'*'' «'"' -<<.l'-reniform open, and four males an,l three females 

 with I completely clo.sed, an. in two it is entirely isolated from the transverse posterior line; vet Grote made the open sub-reniform 



The s', :: XTin'c r™™™f '"/'' ;^" Tfr-- *"" "'r t"'"?'^" ';'. ^- ^^'^^' '^° ••^'^•'^ "'^ snb.reniform o fen'.^^d fou clt .T. 

 lie same also ,n C. Ccro!)ama. In four C. Umiv;,a, (me has the s,ib.renif.,rm open, a .second has it closed but connected with the trans- 

 verse posterior line, ihe other two have it entirely isolated. I have also examples of C. Fraxini C VuLuachJZata-indO 

 ; fiSrin';);''"- i;'l -- V^'-'";,'' >'-/».'^-»'"-' - ^'osed, ...ml .n others open. Vwenty-two examples o. C Po^af aX ! krgre^' 

 auation in ibe « .Itb ol he bhuk bands, in some instances they being twice as wide as in others. In C. Porta C Nmta and C Elocala 



nmhe;-: h';L I'rul'i-'w : '-'^ '"•'':•■"'' r^ r ''?--^l--sin some examples the mesial band extends"t'o the aC-m al nf rgfn ■ 

 in oiiiei^ It (toe.- not reach ii within almost one-fourth of an inch. 



MEAGRE DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW SPECIES; TO BE FOLLOWED IN A SUBSE- 

 QUENT PART BY WHAT IS INFINITELY BETTER-GOOD REPRESENTATIONS. 



Si'Hixx Pi,oT.\, Nov. Sp. 



.Male. Kxpands 3.! inches. 



Head and thorax r.ilber light brownish-grey. Tegula> e<ige<l outwardly with white, inwardlv bv a dark-brown line also a brown 

 line 1 middle, paralle to that ol edge, .\bdomen same light brownish-grev as thorax, with a narrow black dorsal line seven Zr 

 black ban.is on each side the spaces between which are .lirty white, beneafh pale In-ownish-grev, almost white 



1 riniaries same colour as thorax, with a rather short longitudinal line in each cell; an apical line; a submarginal black line 

 accompanied inwardlv bv another, broader but not so dark in colour, a black spot at base of wing all thesj l.'nes eTc a race mpat e^^^ 

 more or less with whitish streaks or patches. Secondaries greyish, with dark-brown submarginal and mesial bands ' 



L nrier surlace gieyisli-brown. 



I might have m.a.le shorter work with the above by simply saying that this species was between Chersis and Kalmicc; it is neither 



