77 



that the White Mountain butterfly offers features which will 

 allow of its separation from its allies of Labrador and Arctic 

 America. Lederer remarks that a figure of semidea ivsrmbles 

 an eyeless form of Taygete (W. E. M., viii, 369), and also 

 notes the resemblance of Argynnis montinus, another inhabi- 

 tant of Mount Washington, to the boreal A. Freija. We thus 

 have, in these two isolated White Mountain forms, a basis for 

 an inquiry into the amount of change which they have under- 

 gone since they became sepai*ated from the main body of the 

 species. Parallel observations might be expected in the moths. 

 The only paper on the Noctuidae of Mount Washington known 

 to us as, yet is Mr. Morrison's in Psyche for February of the 

 present year. This author records, from the " Ledge," two 

 species of "Agrotis", under the names scropulana Morr., and 

 opipara Morr., which might reasonably be supposed to offer 

 interesting characters for comparison with Labradorian or 

 Alpine forms in the genus. Without knowing the boreal species 

 it is obviously unsafe to write a paper on the Noctuidae of the 

 White Mountains. My material is scanty and limited to a sin- 

 gle specimen of the former species, sent me as " scopulana 

 Morr., Type ", in which the legs are defective. On comparing 

 it with three specimens of Paehnobia carnea Thun., from Lab- 

 rador, it seems to me probable that a larger series may show that 

 the species are the same. The three Labrador specimens vary 

 greatly, one female being quite like the .White Mountain speci- 

 men in tone and narrowness of the reniform. The basal black 

 marks are more prominent in the White Mountain specimen. 

 With regard to opipara, I have a single specimen from the 

 White Mountains, of which my determination is not absolute, 

 but I believe it to be the species, since it came from Mr. Morri- 

 son, though unnamed. If so, I think we have to do with A. 

 islandica, and, if my locality for this specimen be correct, this 

 Labradorian species will be found on Mount Washington. Until 

 these points are cleared up, we shall want the proper data for 

 an interesting discussion on the questions arising from an accu- 

 rate knowledge of the moths of the White Mountains. 



A. B. Grote. 



