THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELITAA. 149 
covered with hair, and red only at the apex. The venation is dis- 
tinctly darker. The abdomen is conspicuously different, being nar- 
rower, with the hair-bands white. The hind margins of the segments 
are more transparent, so that the basal hair-bands can be seen through 
them. The first segment is very strongly punctured. From M, 
kallstremie phenacoides, Ckll., this is readily known by the greyish- 
red (instead of green) eyes, the dark venation, the shorter tongue, 
the much less hairy hind tibia, and the white hair-band on seg- 
ment five. 
Hab. Lee County, Texas, November, 1908 (Birkmann, 
No. 15). The name loena is derived from a Malay word re- 
ferring to flowers. 
Boulder: April 1st, 1909. 
THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELITAA. 
By Rev. Grorezk WHEE ER, M.A., F.E.S. 
(Continued from p. 115.) 
We must now pass to the named forms of other species than 
athalia, though it may be well to note in passing that Aurivillius 
in the ‘Nordens Fjarilar’ treats both aurelia and parthenie 
(called by him parthenie and parthenoides respectively) as 
varieties of athalia, on the ground of their mutual resemblance 
and specific variability. It is possible that this use of the name 
parthenie for aurelia elsewhere may account for the apparent 
confusion between the two species in many German authors, a 
confusion so great as often to leave one in doubt as to how many 
of the latter really know parthenie at all, a doubt which more 
rarely assails one when dealing with French or Swiss writers. 
Deione var. berisalensis has already been somewhat fully dealt 
with, and the resemblance between the Swiss and the southern 
Spanish forms touched upon. I have, in fact, specimens from 
South Spain which I should certainly have supposed to come 
from Martigny, though they are perhaps slightly lighter in 
ground colour and the x-mark is not so defined as is usual in 
the more northern specimens. To my mind this resemblance 
appeals as a further confirmation of the specific identity of the 
two forms, and should they ever be proved to be distinct, the 
Southern Spanish race will have to be united with berisalensis 
and not with deione. It should perhaps be noted that Freyer’s 
deione ( ‘ Netiere Beitriige,’ vi. p. 21, pl. 493, fig. 1, 1852) is merely 
a small specimen of parthenie, which accounts for his unwilling- 
ness to allow it specific rank, as he was evidently unacquainted 
with the real insect. 
There appear to be three named forms of parthenie, viz. : 
aphea (Freyer nec Hubner), which has already been described 
(antea, p. 57), jordisi, Ruhl, and beata, Caradja. 
