172 Mr. H. J. Elwes’s 
to Lepidoptera, but am of opinion that to carry the naming 
of varieties to the point which many continental writers 
have done, is not justifiable. The larger the number of 
specimens which are brought together from many localities 
the more difficult it becomes to recognise these varieties, 
and I have therefore dropped the names of a few which I 
had previously adopted, though I have not done so in cases 
where, as with many of the Asiatic forms, my knowledge is 
as yet insufficient to justify this course. 
As however I do not expect every one to take the same 
views as myself, I have in arranging the British Museum 
series placed the varietal name on one side of all those 
specimens which seem to belong to them, so that every 
one may be able to judge for themselves whether to retain 
or to drop the varietal name. 
I have added a table giving the geographical distribu- 
tion of the genus so far as known, which shows among 
other things that there are apparently 3 great centres 
of distribution. The first is the Alps of Europe, which is 
undoubtedly the metropolis of the genus, no less than 26 
species being found here, of which 22 occur in the 
Western, 22 in the Central, and 19 or 20 in the Eastern 
Alps, many of them being peculiar. Of these 13 or 14 
extend their range to the Pyrenees, which in addition 
have developed 2 peculiar species, £. lefebvrei, and 
EL. gorgone. Spain has one, namely, L. zapateri, and a well 
marked loca variety of #. tyndarus. The Apennines have 
as many as 11 or 12 Erebias, but no peculiar species or 
local varieties. The Carpathians also have 12 or 18, none 
of which is peculiar. In the mountains of the Balkan 
peninsula, of which however we know but little, there are 
only 6, of which none is peculiar; but one, a variety of 
E. afra, is found on the coast of Dalmatia completely 
isolated from all its nearest allies, which are Asiatic. 
In the Caucasus and Armenia we know only 6 species, 
of which #. hewitsoni alone is peculiar and that a low 
country and not an alpine species. Considering the great 
extent and isolation of this high mountain range which 
seems admirably suited to the habits of the genus, it 1s a 
most remarkable fact that not a single endemic alpine 
form has been developed therein. In Scandinavia and 
North Russia 5 species only occur of which £. disa alone 
is peculiar, though a form of it is found in Siberia and 
another in the Rocky Mountains of British N. Ameria. 
