220 MELITAEA. By Dr. A. Seitz. 



agar. M. agar Oberth. (67e). This form is doubtless closely allied to didyma, with which it agrees in the shape 



of the wings and size. The markings, however, are much more prominent, in the (J a number of spots' being 

 always united to cyphers, between wiiich there are, especially on the hindwing, butjsmall narrow interspaces 

 of the bright reddish yellow ground-colour. The 9 has the hindwing above so densely shaded with black that 

 only traces of the ochreous ground-colour are left: the whole basal half and the margins of the forewing are 

 black, the outer half being reddish yellow with 4 — 5 rows of black spots. Beneath the species is characterized 

 by the proximal, flexuose, russet band being interrupted below the median nervure by the pale yellow ground- 

 colour. However, such $$ are not the ordinary ones. At Ta-tsien-lu the entirely black $, which I call ab. 

 obtecta. obtecta ab. nov. (67e), is much the commoner; in this the upperside bears only some dull yellowish grev, quite 

 obsolescent rings and spots before the apex. The forewing beneath bears several rows of black dots or bars, 

 which may be absent except for one row (Leech's agar var. a). — In West China (on the upper Yang-tse- 

 kiang) common, and in Tibet, from 5 — 11000 ft, in July and August. 



casta. M. casta Roll. I'nknown to me, doubtless belonging to one of the other species of Melitaea. Kollar's 



description agrees with most of the Melitaea from Anterior Asia, as nothing is mentioned which is characteristic 

 of a definite species. The upperside is described as being reddish yellow with black bands and black outer margin ; 

 the forewing beneath bears "an irregular black macular band, the hindwing being pale yellow, with 2 dull reddish 

 yellow hands with black iiars and a row of less distinct black marginal dots". Occurs in Persia together ^^^th 

 didyma persea and phoebe F. — St.wdinger-Rebel place this form between sibina and saxatilis: it is not known 

 to me, if they have examined the type. 



romanowi. M. romanowi Gr.-Grsh. (-6g). One of the smallest Melitaeas. The o russet-red. fasciated with black 



and white. The ii pale orange-yellow, with some minute black dots. As regards shape the hindwing is remark- 

 ably small in comparison with the elongate forewing, the abdomen also being long, reaching in the <J far 

 beyond the anal angle of the hindwing. — Kentei Mts.. Altai. Tibet. 



trivia. M. trivia Schiff. (= iphigenia Esp.) (66g). At first sight somewliat similar to didyma. but the black 



lunules before the margin united and the disc traversed by a strongly flexuose macular band, the hindwing 

 with abundant, connected, black markings on the disc. The $ with the ground-colour centrally more or less 

 pale, especially on the forewing. In Austria and Hungary, all along the lower Danube and the coasts of the 

 Black Sea, throughout Asia Minor, in Persia, South Russia and South-West Siberia, and in Spain. — Nearly 

 fascelis. all somewhat darker specimens of triir'ia are sold and exhanged as fascelis Esp. (66g), such as occur not very 

 rarely among the $$. The name fascelis, however, most probably should be restricted to the large South 

 Russian specimens, which are not only almost black in the ?, but also have a dark brown ground-colour in 

 the o- The summer-specimens from the South Russian steppe (for instance, Sarepta) have been distinguished 

 nana, by St.\udinger as nana (= phoebe Esp.) (66g), the typical specimens of this form being still smaller than the 

 one figured, so that there is a remarkable difference between this form and true fascelis. — The Turkestanian 

 catapelia. form catapelia Stgr. (66g) also differs distinctly from fascelis, the ground-colour being light leather-yellow; from 

 collina. Ferghana and Bokhara. — In collina Led., from Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, the dots composing the median 

 band of the forewing are less widely separated from each other, the $ bearing a row of black dots before the 

 margin of the forewing. — Larva of tri\'ia leaden grey, with bluish dots and dark dorsal stripe, the sides being 

 striated with brownish, the soft spines whitish, the prolegs dotted with black. In June and again from August 

 till April on \'erbascum. The pupa very stout, anteriorly somewhat swollen, pearl-grey or dull whitish yellow, 

 with small black dots, of which tliose on the wing-cases do not correspond to the spots of the wings. Some 

 of the black spots, especially those on the abdomen, are ornamented with red or yellow. The butterfly has 

 just the same habits as didyma, flying like the latter in meadows and on roads, particularly also on sunny slopes, 

 and is not rare in most places where it occurs, but does not often fly in such numbers as didyma. 



bellona. M. bellona Leech (67e, f). One of the largest Melitaeas and so variable that hardly two specimens are 



alike. Tlie bright reddish yellow ground-colour, which is somewhat paler in the ?, is covered with very hea^'3^ 

 spots which are united to form broad bands and other markings: the distal margin very broadly black with a 

 golden brown sheen, bearing sometimes small spots or very thin lunules of the ground-colour. The underside 

 likewise very variable, variegated; the basal band and the proximal portion of the median band ivory-white. 



