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him from Switzerland at various times under tlie names of 

 Meliteea athalia, M. jiai-fhe^iie and M. aurelia, and he was 

 inclined to think that almost all the specimens caught in the 

 Rhone valley proper and the lower lateral valleys branching 

 therefrom were referable to one species. This, however, he 

 was unprepared to assert, as M. j^O't'thenie was always recorded 

 as a double-brooded species, and M. athalia as a single-brooded 

 one, and only those lepidopterists who could deal with the 

 life-histories of these two so-called species in these districts 

 (1) by breeding, (2) by comparison of the eggs, larvae and pupiB, 

 could determine the matter. It was to be remembered that 

 in the Rennes district {teste Oberthiir) and Havre district 

 [teste Dupont) typical M. ^;arf/ien^e occurred as a double- 

 brooded species in April, May and August, with typical M. 

 athalia, appearing, practically on the same ground, as a single- 

 brooded species between these broods, viz. in June. It was also 

 recorded as occurring similarly in Fontainebleau Forest, and 

 certainly, in June 1897, he had found typical M. athalia in 

 great abundance there, and, in August 1899, two or three 

 specimens of what might be well considered the double-brooded 

 2)arthenie, but this was the extent of his practical experience 

 with the species in this locality. His doubts as to these 

 species were, however, most increased by the capture of a large 

 number of a Melita'a, in the meadows of Gresy-sur-Aix, in late 

 July and August, 1894-1900. Here the time of appearance 

 suggested that the specimens captured must be the second- 

 hood of 31. parthenie, and this view was further strengthened 

 by the fact that in early May 1897, Dr. Chapman had taken a 

 fine large typical Al. athalia in the same place, showing that, at 

 any rate, M. athalia occurred here earlier in the year ; but the 

 July — August specimens of Gresy-sui'-Aix, whilst furnishing 

 some examples with the particular facies that experts associate 

 with M. partheiiie (and existing in the most marked manner in 

 the specimens obtained in the higher alps and known as var. 

 varia), are, on the whole, paiticularly characteristic If. athalia, 

 and, so far as can be judged, most are quite indistinguish- 

 able from British and Continental specimens of undoubted J/. 

 athalia ; nor must it be overlooked that Dr. Chapman found, as 

 just noted, a large topical AT. athalia in early May at Gresy,when 



