222 



PSrCHE. 



[April iSgs- 



a species is very close to certain excep- 

 tional males of Elis, and conversely 

 that some Ulis males are very near to 

 the species Meadii. The approxi- 

 mation is on the part of occasional 

 conservatively divergent Elis males. 

 These divergent individuals of Elis^ 

 when isolated from their fellows and 

 brought into comparison with JMeadii, 

 seem closer to the latter than the}' 

 really are : the cause of this is, that the 

 resemblance to Meadii is made con- 

 spicuous on account of the attention 

 being attracted to it by the presence of 

 examples oi Meadii, the greater resem- 

 blance to the species Eiis being over- 

 looked by lack of a proper representa- 

 tion of Eiis for comparison. 



The FeiMales. 



In these three species the females 

 compare very differently from the 

 males. Eiis and Meadii, which some- 

 times approach closely in the male, 

 manifest in the female only a moderate 

 general affinity, offset by a striking 

 antagonism of pattern rarely found 

 between such close allies in this genus. 

 Hecla and JMcadii, however, whose 

 males differ widely, are parted in the 

 female sex chiefly by fluctuating aver- 

 ages, so that their contrast in that sex 

 is comparatively vague and informal, 

 and in occasional individuals is found 

 resemblance to the allied species in a 

 degree which has sometimes proved 

 confusing. 



In the border of primary in Meadii 

 the yellow spots are ordinarily irregular 



in the extreme in size and outline ; and 

 they are sometimes hazy or nebulous, 

 and extremely pallid, — two such 

 examples are in this series. The vari- 

 ance between individuals as to degree 

 of development of the yellow spots is 

 great. There is a decided tendency to 

 total eclipse of the spots, a tendency so 

 influential that in seven specimens of 

 this small lot the border is almost 

 entirely solid black. This species 

 exhibits great eccentricity in the pre- 

 sentation of the maculae, which are 

 frequently of irregular shapes, often 

 indeed peculiarly erratic in outline. It 

 is the far rarer instances, with tolerably 

 neat and comparatively even-sized 

 spots, which closely resemble some 

 Hecla ; but such Afeadii are not at all 

 representative examples. The eccen- 

 tricity of maculation spoken of is 

 foreign to the method of Elis, and it is 

 a peculiarity of which my small series 

 of Hecla contains no suggestion. In 

 the macidation of Hecla, as compared 

 with that of Meadii, the spots are more 

 equal in the same individual, and more 

 uniform, taking one example with 

 another. 



In both Meadiia.\\iS //i?c/« the yellow 

 spots on dark border of primary are 

 unequally developed, the mid-wing 

 spot being often obsolete, and almost 

 invariably at least feeble in develop- 

 ment. This is the established method 

 in both species. 



Elis is remarkable for its symmetry 

 of pattern, the maculation being in 

 general conspicuously harmonic in the 

 individual, and the midille spot having 



