218 



MELITAEA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 



saxatilis. — Nymotypical saxatilis Christ, is above and beneath so abundantly spotted and otherwise marked that it 

 resembles didyma didymoides (66e), but is smaller and above more fiery red, sometimes with golden sheen; 



hyrcana. from Persia. In ab. hyrcana Stgr., whieh flies in the same localities as saxatilis, the markings of the upperside 

 and the russet brown basal and submarginal bands of the underside are more prominent, nearly as in true Central 

 European didyma. 



acraeina. M. acracina Stgr. (66e). This desert insect stands quite by itself in the genus. Above uniformly 



pale yellow, with black apex and a few black dots on the forewing, thus not resembling any known Melitaea 

 but curiously enough a Chinese Acraeid, Pareha vesta, which is not synpatric with this Melitaea. In fresh spe- 

 cimens also the abdomen is scaled sand-yellow. — Ferghana (Kokand), in the spring. 



M. didyma. The most variable Nymphalid and , if one considers every grade of melanism and each 

 peculiarity as worthy of a name, the butterfly of the whole Region which is richest in forms. In consequence 

 of its enormously wide distribution, from Portugal to the Pacific and from North Europe into the Sahara, it lias 



didyma. separated into a large number of races. — The nymotypical didyma 0. {= cinxia Esp.) (66c) occurs throughout 

 Europe except its northern part, in North Africa and in Western Asia, being partly the only form occurring, 

 partly interspersed among other local races as a more or less frequent exception. Its true home is Germany, 

 Austria-Hungary, France and some parts of Switzerland. The S is fiery red, with a narrow dentate black distal 

 border and a moderate number of small black dots and spots, which are dispersed over the basal half of the wing 

 and end with a short band extending beyond the cell from the costa into the disc. On the underside, which is 

 very abundantly marked with small black dots and hooks, a flexuose subbasal band and a curved submarginal 

 one are situated on a delicately greenish, or yellowish, white ground. In the 5 the forewing and the anal area 

 of the hindwing are much paler, being moreover dusted with blackish, while the costal half of the hindwing has 

 preserved the red tint : the whole wings are much more abundantly but less prominently marked with black. 

 The light rings on the abdomen are very characteristic for both sexes, being absent only from deserticola, which 

 deviates most from the nymotypical form, while at least vestiges of the rings are visible in all the other races. 

 speciosa. There occur sometimes specimens with a blue gloss on the upperside: ab. speciosa Schiiltz. Although it is very 

 difficult to find two specimens exactly alike, even if there is abundant material to select from, numerous variations 

 in the distribution of black on the upperside have been regarded as deviations from the normal and have partly 

 been fixed by names. Very strongly melanotic*) specimens (ab. nigra Balestre , ab. nigerrima Schiiltz) oder 

 brownish ones (ab. ziegleri Stich.) liave indeed a peculiar facies; such $$ do not rarely occur in the high moun- 

 tains. Skala has distributed a number of names among the specimens according to differences in the shape 

 (ab. ohlongomaculata) or arrangement of the dark spots. The spots may have increased in number (ab. nigra, 

 ab. striata), or may be united to form a median band (ab. fasciata), or connected to short streaks (ab. radiata) or 

 longer ones (ab. zinbiirgi), or merged together to a marginal band (ab. marginata), or on the contrary strongly 

 reduced (ab. tenuisigtiata, ab. pallida). Forms in which the spots are united in irregular groups, leaving certain 

 places of the wings free, are named by Aigner ab. kempelini, ab. /i'scAerj, and individuals with pale ground- 

 colour by Stichel ab. pudica, and those with ochreous underside by Skala ab. ochracea. Among the 

 constantly recurring aberrations some are found only in one sex (particularly often in the $) and are not every- 

 where equally frequent among the ordinary form, forming in certain localities the majority, in others a minority 



alpina. of specimens, while they are rare exceptions in other places again, ab. alpina Stgr. (66 f) has both wings strongly 

 shaded with black, the markings being large and the costal half of the hindwing foxy red and moi'e sparsely variegated ; 

 the ground-colour of the forewing appears only in a few places, being dull ivory yellow or whitish, sometimes 

 with a light blue tint. This is the commoner form in the higher Alps, where nymotypical didyma-^'^ also occur 

 meridionalis. as exceptions. — meridionalis Stgr. (66c) flies in the extreme south of Europe (South Italy, Sicily, Greece, and 

 Syria), the ^^ being lighter brick-red and more sparsely spotted, the ?$ paler and evenly and minutely dusted 

 with black; the most magnificent specimens are found in Sicily, a $ from there being represented by the 5. figure 

 on PI. 66c. A slight aberration of the preceding (ground-colour of the o darker, $ with paler spot before the 

 crasnensis. apex, wings larger, more elongate) is described by Hormuzaki as ab. crasnensis from the Bukovina. — graeca 



graeca. Sigf. has the ground-colour of the S dark brick-red with a very broad lihuk distal border; 9 with the forewing 



caiicasica. dusted with dark greenish; from various places in Greece. — The (J of caucasica Stgr. (== kaschtschenkoi Christ.), 



from Transcaucasia, does not essentially differ from graeca, but the $ is not dusted with greenish grey, but 



occidentalis. yellowish red, being similar to the ^, the forewing bearing light spots only before the apex. — occidentalis Stgr. 



(66d) is the commonest form in certain districts of Southern Europe, North Africa and Armenia, being very 



persea. pale yellowish red, almost orange, with sparse but deep black spots. — persea Koll. (= araratica Stgr.) (66d), 

 from Anterior Asia — certain specimens of the late summer brood from Dalmatia (= ab. dabnatina Stgr.) and 



*) ab. nigra has also been obtained by the artificial application of heat on the pupa (44" C). 



