146 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
in Switzerland it sometimes graduates indefinitely into a form of 
athalia, Rott., and is very variable. Mr. South has, perhaps, 
specimens of this Swiss form. The German awrelia is a finer 
insect than the Swiss. The Swiss athalia, Rott., is also a smaller 
and less strikingly marked insect than that of North Germany, 
and, as Mr. South notices among his Swiss examples, often 
approaches parthenie, Bkh. 
There is an oromorphic form also of M. athalia, Rott., that is 
very near to the pediomorphic one of M. dictynna, Bkh., which 
latter is larger, better coloured, and with more spots on the hind 
wings than that which occurs at higher elevations. Different 
altitudes, in like manner, affect the Swiss M. athalia, Rott., which 
in the warmer lowland is finer in size and colour, and whose 
extreme pediomorphic form is represented by the aberration 
corythalia of France. (I am in doubt about the synonymy of 
corythalia, Hb., of Sven Lampa’s ‘ Catalogue of Scandinavian 
Macro- Lepidoptera.’) 
Melitea parthenie, Bkh., shows parallel variations. The 
North Swiss form is large and bright. The oromorphic form 
graduates insensibly into the small var. varia. There is also an 
approximation to M. dictynna sometimes observable; but the 
characteristic mentioned in my ‘ Handbook of European Butter- 
flies,’ namely, of the palpi being yellow above, is, I think, pretty 
constant. The question, which certainly forces itself upon one’s 
attention, is whether these various specific types, which graduate 
into each other so remarkably, do really constitute true species ? 
The group, as defined above, being at present in such an unstable 
condition throughout, renders any decision very difficult. 
The species thus named, and usually accepted, are fairly 
definite; and are of use, at any rate, in so far as they indicate 
centres of more or less stability, geographically widely spread, 
and whose patterns are separated one from the other by inter- 
mediate links of more unstable character. 
With regard to the geographical range of these species in 
question, I may remark that I have Scandinavian (Upland) 
specimens of M. athalia which only differ in a slightly paler tone 
of fulvous from Central European forms. Both M. aurelia, Nick., 
and M. parthenie, Bkh., are reported from various parts of Scan- 
dinavia; and the var. varia from Norway, by Herr Sven Lampa. 
Sioperton Lodge, Kingstown, Co. Dublin, May, 1886. 
