SA TURNlDM. 59 



broader than in the male. Fore wings ample and with the 

 apex proportionately less produced ; delicate pale purple- 

 grey, stippled all over with paler grey ; the white colour of 

 the collar is continued a short distance along the costa and 

 shades off to grey, and the remainder of the basal space is 

 filled by a large dark brown blotch ; markings similar to 

 those of the male, but broader and paler and more diffused, 

 except the ocellated spot, which is larger, but equally dark 

 and conspicuous. Hind wings also with markings arranged 

 as in the male, but the ocellated spot is preceded by a large 

 lunate white blotch, and the ground colour is white or 

 yellowish tinged with grey ; nervures cloudy grey. 



Underside in both sexes similar to the upper, but paler, 

 more of a yellowish-fulvous in the male, pale purplish grey 

 in the female, but the hind wings in the male are of a rich 

 purple-crimson, with the space in which the ocellated spot is 

 situated white or whitish and the pale stripe before the hind 

 margin also white. Body and legs dull brown or whitish, 

 but in the female the abdomen is banded with white. This 

 is one of our most beautiful and striking British insects. 



Variation in this species is mainly, in both sexes, in the 

 degree of purple-red, or almost crimson, shading, and in the 

 general depth of colour. It seems to be somewhat climatal, 

 since specimens from the southern counties of England are 

 usually richly and warmly coloured, the females especially 

 showing beautiful reddish-purple stripes and shading ; while 

 those from the heaths of the north are of more dull or pale 

 colouring. Every possible intermediate shade occurs, and 

 specimens from the eastern fen districts are provided with 

 proportionately large white blotches. In the collection of 

 the late Mr. F. Bond is a male devoid of the ocellated spots, 

 the large white blotch of the fore wings being continued un- 

 broken along the central space ; this was reared from a larva 

 found feeding on sallow in Cambridgeshire. Another reared 

 by him, and now in the National collection, is totally devoid 

 of scales on the wings. Mr. H. Doubleday had male specimens 



