278 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



margins), figs, 1, la. It will also be seen that the outer 'part 

 of the inner marginal blotch of urticce is "bitten off" in var. 

 ichnusa. In var. turcica the black markings are in the identical 

 position as in urticce, and in specimens in which the puncta and 

 inner marginal blotch tend to disappear, they disintegrate exactly 

 in tJte manner seen in aberrations of V. urticee — the inner mar- 

 ginal spot first in its basal portion — which is just the part that 

 remains intact in ichnusa, so that the black spot in turcica falls 

 partially in front of the same blotch in ichnusa. This is 

 shown in fig. 2 by the lined and by the black portion of the spot 

 in urticce. The distribution of colour in the hind wing is inter- 

 mediate in turcica between figs, la (an extreme form) and 2a. 



5. Base of the fore wings. These parts are suffused with 

 black and yellowish scales in all three forms, but, as the figures 

 show, the basal and inner central area in tchnusa is covered as 

 far as the first costal blotch ; while in urticce and var. turcica 

 the basal j)arts show much of the ground colour as in fig. 2. 

 The basal suffusion in ich.nusa is quite unlike tbat in the American 

 V. milberti, and must not be confounded with it. Both kinds of 

 basal colouring aj^pear in aberrations of V. urticce. In V. urticcc 

 var. caschmirensis the basal suffusion reaches as far as the inner 

 marginal blotch, but does not cover the space before the first 

 costal blotch. 



Under sides : — 6. As compared with Central European urticce, 

 these parts are of a somewhat richer brown in the two southern 

 forms and the light area of the fore wings is conspicuously 

 darker and warmer yellow in colour. British specimens of 

 V. urticcs appear to be distinguished from most Central European 

 forms and from the southern specimens by exhibiting much 

 black (not brown-black) in the basal and median portions of the 

 ■wings. These black markings often become very conspicuous 

 and brilliant (ab. subtus-nigra), and the tendency to them makes 

 it more difficult to obtain aberrations from British larvae, wdiich 

 resemble ichnusa-turcica in their under sides, than from most 

 Continental larvae. Thus all my best aberrations from the latter 

 larvcB — for instance, ab. ioforniis, ab. ioprotoformis — exhibit rich 

 brown-h\Q,ck under sides, with the lighter parts warm brownish 

 yellow, as in var. ichnusa (it should also be here remembered 

 that atavic forms of V. io show brown under sides and a tawny 

 orange upper side — compare var. geisha, male and female, from 

 Japan) ; while, with few exceptions, of which my ab. subtus- 

 puncta {antea vol. xlii. p. 310) is a fair example, my aberrations 

 from British larvae exhibit black under sides tending to grey, 

 instead of brown and yellow.* The ochreous, occasionally almost 



■'• The Asian varieties caschmirensis, chincnsis, connexa have broivn 

 under sides. The brown may in the large var. cliinensis either cover the 

 whole wing surface, as in the brown V. io var. geisha, or be restricted to 

 the same wing parts as in K. urticce. 



