82 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



mentioned, and by Oberthlir in the ' Bulletin de la Societe Ento- 

 mologique Fran^aise,' vol. v. pi. i. (1900), and in this latter 

 place is also illustrated one of a precisely opposite character, 

 almost the whole of the wings being covered with the ground 

 colour ; and of the seven under sides illustrated the author says 

 that four, viz. three males and one female, have the up. s. similar 

 to this latter. All these four have the un. s. f. w. very slightly 

 marked except for the lunules, and all have the outer two-thirds 

 of the h. w. albinistic, the outer dark band being represented in 

 the four specimens by (1) indistinct dots, (2) a dark edging to the 

 lunules of the terminal band, (3) a row of very indistinct, and 

 (4) slightly more distinct lunules respectively ; the basal third is 

 in all cases dark, the spots showing but little. It will be seen 

 that all these belong to the jordisi group of aberrations, but 

 carried considerably farther on the up. s. than the specimen 

 described by Eiihl, and less marked on the un. s. f. w. Of the 

 other three un, s. specimens illustrated, one has the un. s. left 

 h. w. of the same form, but less markedly so, whilst in the right 

 h. w. the outer band is unusually dark, and invades the lunules 

 of the terminal band ; the greater part of the right f. w. un. s. 

 is also dark. The other two under sides are melanistic. The 

 minor variations — tint of ground colour, variegation in the up. s. 

 of the female, breadth of dark lines up. s. and of bands un. s. — 

 have quite as wide a range as in athalia. With regard to the 

 approach of parthenie to varia, I know how fatally easy it is to 

 be misled by a superficial resemblance in the males, especially 

 when one only has one or the other species before one. In the 

 early days of my Swiss collecting I fell into this error myself, 

 and the statement made in the 'Entomologist's Record,' vol. xiii. 

 p. 118, remains as a constant reminder of my mistake; but I 

 am soothed by the reflection that I erred in the company of the 

 nearly infallible Kane, who says (Entom. xix. p. 145) that the 

 " oromorphic form of parthenie graduates insensibly into varia," 

 whereas ni truth the oromorphic form of parthenie does nothing 

 of the kind except with regard to size. The same observation 

 is made by Bath (Ent. xxix. p. 11) with regard to specimens 

 fromPianda, near Zermatt, and (Ent. xxx. p. 210) from Gavarnie, 

 at a height of from 5000 to 6500 ft. Now these two localities 

 probably represent the extreme height to which parthenie ever 

 mounts in the Valaisian Alps and the Pyrenees respectively, and 

 I have seen specimens from both ranges. The superficial re- 

 semblance to varia is at first sight marked, but a comparison 

 made between them and the varia of the high Alps on the one 

 hand, and the ordinary Swiss forms of parthenie (especially the 

 subalpine forms) on the other, will serve to place the matter 

 beyond dispute. The table given in vol. xli. pp. 304-307 will 

 be found hel[)ful in this matter. The very small specimens of 

 parthenie in the National Collection, brought by Mrs. NichoU 



