THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELIT^A. 



^23 



which I cannot follow his lead. First, then, it was this paper 

 which first drew my attention to the value of the shape of the 

 second line (the inner subterminal) on the fore wings as a dis- 

 tinguishing mark. Secondly, Ruhl's remarks on the shape_ of 

 the lunules in the outer dark band on the under side hind wing 

 of aurdia were most valuable to me, as confirming the opinion I 

 had already formed on this subject. He compares them thus 

 with those of parthenie (which are practically identical in shape 

 with those of athalia) : — "The second row of lunules — i. e. the 

 inner one — in parthenie consists of clear highly-arched bows, 

 which, with the exception of that nearest to the anal angle, 

 exhibit a continuous band, even, large, and completely formed. 

 This band is also present in athalia and aurelia, but in the latter 

 the form of the arches is essentially different. Amongst all my 

 aurelias I did not find one which had all the arches of this band 

 fully developed as in j9a?-^/«eme. . . . The well-arched lunules of 

 parthenie reach a maximum height of 2 mm., and are not less 

 than 1 mm. ; in aurelia, even in the female, they do not reach a 

 maximum of more than 1 mm. Instead of the even, rounded 

 half moons of parthenie, they appear in aurelia more or less 

 levelled, and with the corners taken off"." Whilst on this subject 

 I may add that Birkman says that the markings on the under 

 side hind wing of aurelia are fainter than those of parthenie ; 

 this Riihl says he fails to see, but it is certainly true of the 

 female, at any rate. Perhaps my greatest debt to Eiihl is in the 

 matter of hritomartis. His description first set me on the track 

 of this species in the case of the Eeazzino specimens, and it is 

 to him that we owe the recovery of Assmann's example to the 

 National Collection, as previously mentioned. To come to a 

 few details : he quotes from Meyer-Dur, as a distinctive mark of 

 the female parthenie, a light yellow spot near the apex of the 

 fore wing ; this, he says, also occurs sometimes in athalia, and 

 even in aurelia. This is certainly the case, and I may add that 

 its presence is by no means universal in the case of parthenie. 

 He gives as a good distinction between the males of athalia and 

 dictynna that in the former the aborted fore legs are long and 

 strongly hirsute, in the latter short and ill- clothed. It must, 

 indeed, be a rare case in which it is necessary to resort to this 

 distinction. When he speaks of the resemblance between these 

 two species he is apparently alluding to the shape of the mark- 

 ings, and is doubtless, in this case, correct ; but the under side 

 of the hind wing would at once dispel any doubt as between these 

 two species. He says that the colour of the palpi, the hair of 

 the under side of the body, and the colour of the aborted fore 

 legs have all been taken as distinguishing features ; but he dis- 

 trusts them all. Yet he speaks of the palpi as being a good 

 distinction between athalia on the one hand, and aurelia and 

 parthenie on the other. Here I am quite unable to follow him, 



