ARGYNNIS. By Dr. Th. Lehmann. 4U7 



they appear rather late in the morning, after the rays of the sun have warnied the ground and penetrate into 

 tlie mountain-ravines, and they disappear as a rule again towards 4 oclock in the afternoon. The principal 

 season is July and August, the (^,^ appearing somewhat before the $?- in North Carolina at the end of June; 

 some stray $$ are still found at tlie end of September. 



In Edward.s' Butterflies of N. A. we find the figure of a fossil butterfly found in the Miocene strata 

 in Croatia. The similarity between this and the ^ of ^-1. diana is very striking. O.swald Heer, from whose 

 work (Die Insektenfauna der Tertiargebilde von Oeningen und von Rodoboj in Kroatien, 1847 — 53) the figure 

 was taken which in the text is named Vanessa pinto and whose colours seem in parts preserved, points himself 

 to this resemblance \\'hich is, "besides in the shape, especially evident in the black ground-colour and the 

 pale yelloAv marginal band of spots, the several parts of which are clearly separated by the veins, reaching 

 the termen and each enclosing two black ocelli. Since the fossil is considerably smaller than ^. c?ia« a, perhaps 

 it is more nearly allied to Vanessa'". Together \\ith pluto there were found dragon-flies with spotted wings, 

 similar to those found in the southern United States (Edwards). 



A. nokomis Eihr. (86 a). ^ above uniform fiery fulvous, similar to A. leto, with the characteristic nokomU. 

 submarginal markings, which are rather heavier than in A. aphrodite. Basal area but very slightly obscured. 

 Termen bordered by two parallel lines, the outer quite fine, the inner heavier, the enclosed space fulvous like the 

 ground-colour, dissected by the black nervules into isolated spots. The spots in the discal row small, roundish; 

 on the hindwings the submarginal lunules are separated from each other and from the inner marginal line. Under 

 surface greenish golden-yellow, the forewings laved with pink at the base and on the inner margin, the apical 

 portion golden-yellow. The anterior 6 submarginal spots brightly silvered. Hindwings with large silvery spots 

 edged with black, in the outer row all around, the others only on the inside. Abdominal margin and the basal 

 part of the costa sUghtly silvered. The $ has the ground-colour of the upper surface pale brownish-yellow, 

 similar to A. leto y, shghtly shaded outwardly \\ith fulvous: the black markings much broader and not so 

 sharply defined as in the (J; the nervules are also broadly scaled with black, the whole tending to fuse and run 

 into one another to such an extent that the yellow ground-colour disappears almost completely from base 

 to discal area, leaving in the outer half only some relatively small, roundish or subquadrate spots resembling 

 in shape, distribution and size the blue spots in diana $ and enclosing, like these, the rounded extradiscal 

 black spots. The under surface like that of the o, with all the markings heavier; but the ground-colour is not 

 greenish, but more clear yellow, and the margins of both wings as well as the apex of the forewing much irro- 

 rated with black. The hindwing has the basal portion more obscured by greenish-brown tints, less shaded 

 with black. Expanse of (J 3,4", of $ up to 3.6". — StrECKER regarded nok-omis as a pale form of 

 A. cybele, developed in the arid salt steppes of Utah and Ai-izona. First described from a specimen received 

 by Edwards in 18(52 through the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, marked "'Bitter Root Mountain". 

 Later, in 1871, Lieut. Wheeler captured on an exploring trip through Arizona 5 cJ(J 2 $$. But it has ever been 

 very rare. Besides in Arizona, it has also been taken in southern Utah. Nothing is known of the life-history 

 of the species. 



A. nitocris Edw. (86 a) was treated by Edwards as a separate species, whereas other authors regarded nUoeris. 

 it as a form of ^4. wo^^omis, intermediate between this and Zeto. As in many of the North American J/;/ ;/««/.«, 

 we find also regarding nitocris much uncertainty, the more so since Edwards himself adressed Strecker's 

 figure of noi-o/rt*.s $ (in Report on the Ruffner Expedition) as an aberrative form of nitocris. The ^ resembles 

 above nokomis; bright fulvous, much obscured from ba.se to middle of disk, except on a portion of the cell 

 in the forewing. The space between the two marginal lines rather wide, uniformly fulvous. The spots in the 

 submarginal row on the forewings sagittate, the anterior ones touching one another and the inner line; the 

 outer discal spots on the forewings irregular in shape and size, on the hindwing minute. Underside of the 

 forewings cinnamon-red almost throughout, on the apex a small ochre-yellow patch enclosing a brown 

 spot. Hindwing from base to beyond the second, outer row of spots, as well as the outer margin, deep rusty 

 redbrown, occasionally dusted with grey-green, and with a broad submarginal band of rufous. The silvery spots 

 as ill nocomis. ? above blackish-brown, darker than nokomis $. The black markings from base to middle of disk 

 nearly lost in the dark ground-colour. The median rows of spots pale yellow, the submarginal spots \\hitish, 

 as in nokomis. The hght spots of the hindwings narrower than in most examples of nokomis. owing to the 

 broad edging of brow n upon the nervules. Under surface of the forewings somewhat deejier red than in (j*. with 

 the apex clearer yellow. Hindwing darker brown, with the yellow- submarginal band divided into spots by the 

 broadly fuscous nervules. Silverspots as in J. Expanse of (^ 3,0 — 3,3", of 3,3 — 3,8". Arizona, Colorado 

 and Nevada. The S type came from White Mts. in N. E. Arizona. Specimens from Colorado differ from those 

 of Arizona, besides by their larger size, by the darker red of the entire under surface of the forewings; the 

 inner half of the hindwings from the base to beyond the second row of spots, which in Arizona specimens is 



