ARGYNNIS. By Dr. Th. Lehmann. 421 



loinbia. Both combine more or less the characteriHtics of eurynome and montlvaga, wliich explains that Ed- 

 wards described in 1883 A. erinna as a variety of eurynome, but in tlie year following classed it in his 

 Catalogue witii inonlivaga. 



A. montivaga Behr (87 e) was, togetlier with egleis, regarded by Strecker as a variety of A. zerene woniwuja. 

 Bsd., whereas other authors, probably with better reason, treat it as a possible subspecies of A. eurynome, 

 which it closely ajjproaches in either sex, differing chiefly in the somewhat darker red of the upper surface, 

 the rather heavier markings, and the absence on the underside, especially of the hindwings, of the olive- 

 green tinge which is characteristic of tvjiical eurynome, this being replaced by a mottling of reddish-brown. 

 All the spots more or less perfectly silvered. Expanse : ,^ 1,8", $ 1,9". Found in the Sierra Nevada of California 

 and among the higher mountains of Nevada (Morrison). 



A. egleis Bsd. ($ = mormonia Bsd., nenocpiis Reak.) (S(je). Forewings relatively somewhat \ongev egleis. 

 than in eurynome. o above deep fulvous, a little obscured at base, with moderately heavy black markings 

 on both wings and the mesial band on the liindwings continuous. Under surface of forewings pale fulvous, 

 with the apex yellowish buff; base and iimer margin as far as the median vein, as well as the median 

 nervules tinged with reddish, the base not seldom quite red. Submarginal and apical spots may or may 

 not be silvered. Hindwings brown as far as the outer third, sometimes mottled with purple; submarginal 

 band brownish-yeUow. The spots on the under surface either partly sdvered, or pale buff without any 

 silver. $ very much like (J, but the ground-colour paler, occasionally much obscured over the basal areas. 

 Under surface of the forewings deeper red. the purplish-brown shading of the inner half of the hindwings darker. 

 The silver spots are, as in the ,^, greatly subject to variation; occasionally they are clear yellowish buff, 

 without any trace of silver. Expanse: ,^ 2,2", $ 2,5". — Edwards succeeded in breeding it from eggs which 

 he had received from Nevada. The egg is yellowish, following the general type. Very soon after leaving the egg, 

 the caterpillars seek their wintercpiarters, going in lethargy. Fidl grown they measure about 1,2"; their colour 

 is grey, mottled with brown, nuirked dorsaUy with a black stripe edged on either side with a dirty white line ; 

 the spines and bristles comparatively short, those on the back didl whitish, the rest yellowish, all with black 

 tips. Feet pale brown, head black in front, yellow behind, covered with black hairs. Pupa very much as in 

 other species ; the wing-cases dark and glossy. e(/^ets was first described by Dr. Behr without a name, being 

 designed as "No. 5" in his paper on (.'alifornian Argynnids (1862); he contrasted it then with his "No. 4" 

 which he later named montivaga. egleis is much more common than the latter. It was not until 1869, that Dr. 

 BoiSDirvAL described it as egleis, including therein the ab. irene Bsd. Regarding egleis, its author says that Irene. 

 after comparing niore than 100 specimens, he finds that the species varies to such an extent that even after 

 eliminating all the specimens that passed as irene, there still remained a greater number running into one 

 another and representing every possible transition. Specimens from Bradley (California) are mostly 

 very dark, rather brown than fulvous, the V? generally well silvered. — A. mortiioiiia B.sd. was founded on a mormonia. 

 9 form which, according to Edwards, was nothing else but egleis $. He writes: "The original descriptions, 

 which are in Latin, of egleis and viornionia afford no means of separating them; they only state that in 

 egleis the spots on the under surface of the hindwings may or may not be silvered, whereas in mormonia 

 they always are silvered. A comparison of the o f.vpe of egleis and the tj^De of mormonia Bsd. ($) shows 

 no other difference than can be explained by the difference in sex" (Edwards). 



2. Subgenus: Breiithis Hhn. 



A. niyrina ^V. (= myi'issa Godt.) (8(i i). Upper surface fulvous, broadly bordered with black, the black myrina. 

 markings, especially on the hindwings, rather light. Under surface of forewings yellowish fulvous, somewhat 

 lighter at the inner margin, with the apex and upjier part of the outer margin deep ferruginous. IMarginal 

 _^ spots slightly silvered. Hindwings rusty-brown, mottled with buff, and with small, but very distinct and very 

 bright silvery spots. The wide space between the median band and marginal lunules is buff at the middle, 

 under the apex and above the anal angle shaded with dark fuscous. $ somewhat paler, otherwise like <^. Ex- 

 panse : cJ 1,4", $ 1,8". Egg conoidal, about V3 higher than wide, with 16 — 17 vertical ribs, between which a 

 number of delicate cross-lines. Its colour is pale yellowish-green. The mature caterpillar is cylindrical, blunt 

 at the upper end, about %" in length, dark olive-brown, marked with green, and with fleshy spines armed 

 with very sharp points projecting at an angle of 45", the anterior ones about four times as long as the rest. 

 Pupa yellowish-brown, with darker brown spots, tho.se of the thoracic and the two anterior abdominal seg- 

 ments with pearly lustre, myrina has in North i^merica south of the Arctic circle a very wide range, without 

 forming any variations worth speaking of. In this it differs from the European sclene which in some respects 

 it resembles. It occurs in the United States from the New England States to Montana, and throughout 



