Publ. 14. IV. 1914. VANESSA. By Dr. A. Sbitz. 457 



P. 1-album Esp. {= v-albuin Schiff.) (vol. I, pi. G3 d). As large as the largest, {nierrogationifi; the t.\qii- l-alhum. 

 eal form not occurring in America but in tlie Old World, where it flies in eastern Europe and as .sfDnurai Fruh.st. 

 in Japan. The American form, j-album Bdv. (it3f), is as a rule larger and the upperside of the hindwing much j-album. 

 lighter (clay-yellow instead of dark brown) than in e.xamples from the Old World. The species may be at once 

 distinguisiied from all the other Polijgoiiia by the whitish or bcjne-yellow spots at the costa of both wings, ah. 

 aureomarginata Cock, is lighter, more gold-yellow, and the distal margin of the wings unspotted. In America, aureomar- 

 as in the Old World, aberrations occur with irregularly confluent blackish spots : ab. chelone SrJi ultz. — Larva oi^ala. 

 iron-grey or earth-brown with clay-yellow spines, on willows. More in the north, from Labrador to Alaska, 

 southwards as far as the central ITuited States, singly and not common. — The Japanese form {.samurai Fruhst.) 

 (vol. I, pi. 63 d) is intermediate between the European and that of North America. The species forms a distinct 

 transition to the genus Van&ssa. but the imago has the stronger teeth in the wing-margins and the hook-shaped 

 white median marks on the hindwing beneath and the larva tJie spines on the head which characterize Poly- 

 gonia. 



10. Genus : ^aiie^Ka F. 



The ,, spring-heralds" of the eastern hemisphere, with one exception (io), are represented in America 

 by forms which correspond with those of the Old World. Thus calijornica corresponds to xanthomela.s or poly- 

 cMoros, milberti to urticae, cyanomelas to canace; aniiopa is common to both hemispheres. Wmgs broad, strongly 

 angled, above very brightly coloured, beneath protectively resembling bark. The larvae have no spines on 

 the li:ad itself, on the other hand back and sides are strongly spined. They live in nests on nettles, willows, 

 fruit-trees, birches, elms, etc., and mostly remain near together almost to pupation. The butterflies live both 

 in the plains and the mountains, are good fUers, lively sun-loving insects and hibernate; most species are very 

 common. 



V. californica Bdi\ (93 e). Similar to Pol. j-album, but without the white median mark on the hind- califonuca. 

 wing beneatli ; the costal spots of the forewing more sharjjly defined, the distal margins broadly blackish brown. 

 The larva likewise similar to that of Pol. j-album, blackish with variegated spines, venter lighter, without true 

 spines on the head ; on Ceanothus thyi'siflorus. The butterfly flies in the west of the United States and is common. 



V. milberti Godt. (= furciliata Say) (93 o). Basal half of both wings black with red cell-spots; distal milberti. 

 part red -yellow, proximaUy, especially in the $, lighter yellow; margins of the wings blackish, spottLcl with 

 yellow and bine. Lender sm-face somewhat recalling that of V. urticae, but the disc of the forewing less yeUow, 

 while the whole distal part of both wings is lighter. — Larva more brownish tiian that of the European!', urlicae, 

 with yeUow spots and spines; on nettles. Butterfly distributed in the whole of northern North America, from 

 Newfoundland to the Pacific coast, almost everywhere common, but mostly far less abundant than is urticae 

 m central Europe. — The lighter form, subpallida Cock., is that of the Rocky Mountains; its larva hves on LTrtica subpaUida. 

 gracilis. 



V. cyonomelas Dbl. ct- Hew. (93 f). LTnder surface almost as in polycJiloro.?, to which (like the Asiatic cyonomelas. 

 canace group) this species approximates ; above black with blue margin and washed-out blue submarginal band. 

 Mexico, very rare, only a few specimens known; I figure it from an example in Fruhstorfer's collection. 



V. antiopa L. (= morio L., gi-andis Ehrm.. hippolytaiymaw) (93 f, vol. I, pi. 63b). The ,, Mourning Cloak" aniiopa. 

 is black-brown, wings with yellow margin and blue dots before it. Distributed over the entu-e northern hemi- 

 sphere except North Africa, becoming rare in the south but occurring as far as Venezuela; there small and con- 

 fined to the mountains. — ab. hygiaea (vol. I. pi. 63c) has the margin broad and the blue dots reduced or entu-ely hygiaea. 

 absent. — aniiopa shows no constant variation, as was formerly believed, in the form from the LTnited States 

 (to which the name linlneri Filch was given), but only in the extreme north, in Alaska. From there a specimen 

 lies before me with very bright red-brown upper surface, white (not worn) margin slightly tinged with viok't 

 and on the under surface a light band across the middle of both wings; I figure it under the name hyperbo- hyperborea. 

 rea form. nov. (93 f ). — Also from the extreme south of its range a form has been named : thomsoni Btlr. It differs thomsoni. 

 in the yellow margin, which is twice as broad on the hindwing as on the forewing, occupying nearly 'i) of 

 the whole hindwing, and in having the subapical spot of the forewing followed by a chain of smaller yellow- 

 white spots arranged in an angled row. Described from a spe(nmen in tiie Tring Museum, but probably scarcely 

 constant. — Larva black with red prolegs, on deciduous trees, such as willows, birches, pears, poplars, elms. 

 Whilst in Europe the species is mostly not very common and has only one generation, in North America it 

 is in many places abundant and has often two generations. The larva is very easj^ to rear and changes 



V 58 



