rubl. 10. VI. VMS. AEGYNNIS. By Dr. Th. Lehmann. 425 



mottled with pale and dark, the outer half suffused with purple; two rows of median spots margined with 

 dark ferruginous, a median band of small ocelli ringed with dark brown, and a series of submarginal spots 

 of the same colour. At the costa near the base a large rliombic sjiot of pale violet. Expanse: 1,7 — 1,8". 

 The egg and the young larva resemble exactly those of A. myrinn, l>ut when full grown, the larva differs fi-om 

 the latter in having tlie spines on the second seginent of the same length as the others. According to 

 Mead it rather resembles that of .4. cybele, which would be an other proof of the inadvisability of separating 

 Brenthis as a genus of its own. beUoiia is very common throughout the United states of North America, 

 from the AUeghanies in Virginia, where it only occurs at higher altitudes, to Canada, and westward to the 

 foot of the Rocky Mountains. It flies together with A. myrina, being easily distinguished from it by the ab- 

 sence of the bright silvery spots on the under surface adorning that species. 



A. epithore iJ.sv/. (S()f) is a close ally of the precedijig species, which it replaces in the western cpilhore. 

 States, from Colorado to the Pacific Coast, being possibly even a variety of the same, as Strecker a. o. 

 have assumed. The forewings are nuich less excavated below tlie apex; the ground-colour paler fulvous, the 

 black markings slighter, but the basal half of the liiiidwings much more heavily obscured with fuscous. 

 The under surface resembles that of bellona. but is less brownish jnirple, mottled more distinctly with yellow, 

 with the markings of the hindwings almost obsolete in tlie distal half. — var. kriemhild Streck. refers to krieuiMU. 

 a rather paler form from the arid, waterless mountains of Utah and Arizona. 



A. alberta Erhc (S7 f) is among all the other sjjecies of Argyntiis easily recognized by tlie faded, albcria. 

 dull reddish ground-colour; the markings resemble those of helena, but are much paler and partially almost 

 obsolete, appearing as obscure, dark sliadowy spots and streaks. ; On both wings the niedian bands dissolve 

 into single short striae, barely visible on the hindwings. The under surface even more monotonous than the 

 upper surface, pale red-brown, the hindwings rather ^^aler in the outer lialf, slightly clouded \\\i\\ yello^\■ish in 

 the discal area, with yellowish--Hhite terminal spots. Tlie 9 on the whole darker than the J, varyuig from 

 slaty-grey to dark brown, both wings with a jieculiar greasy lustre. Exi^anse: 1,6 — 1,0". Of the early stages 

 only the egg and the young larva are known; the former pale yellow, conoidal, almost as high as broacl, 

 marked by about 40 vertical ribs; it takes 10 days to hatch the larva, which, like most Xn\Qvk-a\\ Arcjynnis, 

 hibernates when cjuite young, alberfa is not scarce on the higher mountains around Laggan in the (Janadian 

 province of Alberta, close to the boundary of British Columbia; it flies together with the much less common 

 A. nstarte. Col. nastes, Chrys. snowi. on the steep upper slopes of the mountains, the 5$ generally higher than 

 the (^^. Whereas the $$ fly about slowly, aligliting frec[uently on flowers such as Dandelion etc., the ,^^ 

 spend most of their time racing restlessly up and down the slopes, flying so close to the ground that they 

 ap2)ear to glide on the surface (Edwards). 



A. astarte Dbd. and Hew. ( = victoria Edv. 1891 ) (Sti f ). Upper surface bright fulvous : forewings slightly asinrle. 

 obscured at ba^e, hindwings broadly shaded with fuscous, the dark area covering nearly half the \\'ing. The 

 bla( k markings on both wings very heavy; on the hindwing the terminal border rather broader than on the 

 forewing, slightly laved with paler between the nervules. The submarginal rows of spots small, rather 

 obscure, the roundish discal spots as well as the dentate median band heavier on the forewings than on 

 the hindwings. Underside of forewings pale fulvous, the inner part of the cell shaded with brownish, the 

 subcostal spaces enclosing some small spots of faint oi'ange-red. Underneath the markings of the upper sur- 

 face are repeated, but reduced. The under surface of the hindwings a lovely orange-red, gradually getting 

 paler toward tlije termen. Two blackish terminal lines, preceded by a series of yellowish-white spots separated 

 by the nervules; in the outer portion of the disc a row of small roundish black dots indistinctly edged 

 with white proximally. But the best characteristic is a broad band composed of irregular, whitish-yellow 

 patches faintly margined with black, traversing the middle of the hindwing, strongly contrasting with the dark 

 orange-red ground. $ very much as 3*, but with the markings even heavier, rather more diffuse outwardly. 

 astarte approaches in size the true Argynnis. l)ut, judging from the nature of its markmgs, belongs to 

 the Bretithis grouj); expanse; ,^ 2,0", $ 2,2". The type of which Doubleday figured the less characte- 

 ristic upperside as that of a new species of Melitaea, without, however, giving any description, is in the 

 British Museum; although captured some time ago by Lord Derby's collectors, probably in the moun- 

 tainous part of British Columbia, it was later on mentioned in Kirby's ('atalogue as coming from Ja- 

 maica, for which reason it was not mentioned in StreckerV Catalogue. It was not until, some time afterwards, 

 that T. E. Bean rediscovered it near Laggan (Alberta), close to the British Columbian border, ui Lat. 51", 

 in the valley of the Bow River. It is always found singly on the highest mountain peaks, not below an 

 altitude of 8600 ft., away above the timber-line, at the end of July and durhig the first days of August. 

 It is exceedingly shy and difficult to catch; its flight, especially that of the .j,j, very swift; rushing and 

 racmg about on the desolate rocky slopes, with the wings in constant whirling motion, alighting but rarely 



V 54 



