308 



PSYCHE. 



[Ftbriuiry iSpo. 



species, found west of the Rocky AIouii- the Antilles and Central America. 

 tains, extending south to Guatemala. There are two species in Australia, 



A. atuazill is strictly a South Amer- three in Europe, four in Africa and per- 



ican species extending to the north to haps ten in Asia. 



THE ARGYNNIDES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



HV IIEXKV JOHN ELWES, CIRENCESTER, ENGLAND. 



[Reprint, p. 563-575, from "A revision of the genus Argynnis," (Trans, ent. soc. London 

 for the year 1889, p. 535-575-)] 



The Argynnides of North America 

 are, without exception, the most diffi- 

 cult butterflies to classify that I have 

 ever studied. I have a collection which 

 includes authentically named specimens 

 of almost all the species and varieties, 

 many of them direct from such well- 

 known collectors as JMessrs. H. Ed- 

 wards and Morrison ; many from Messrs. 

 Strecker and Geddes. I have also 

 seen some of the best collections in the 

 United States, and studied all, or almost 

 all, the large mass of scattered literatin-e 

 and notes on the genus by Messrs. W. 

 H. and H. Edwards, Mead, Geddes, 

 Scudder, and Strecker. I have repeat- 

 edly tried to construct a key by which 

 the supposed species could be identified, 

 and can only say that I have completely 

 failed. I am certain that no entomologist) 

 who received to-day the most perfect 

 collection which could be got together 

 from all parts of North America, and 

 had to classify and describe them with- 

 out regard to the works of others, would 



make anything like as many species as 

 have been recognized. It seems pre- 

 sumptive for a man to set aside much of 

 what has been written by those who 

 have seen, both living and dead, so many 

 more specimens than I have seen, and 

 yet I cannot, in dealing with the 

 American forms, adopt as specific, 

 characters so slight and varial:)le that 

 they would not be recognized as such in 

 the much better known European spe- 

 cies. And to show that it is not my 

 ignorance alone which makes the diffi- 

 culty, I may say that it is just tliose spe- 

 cies which I have personally observed in 

 life, and which I have most carefully 

 examined, such as A. ciirynotne., A. 

 l/'li'ai/a, A. niofificola., and A. niead/'iy 

 in which I have found my uncertainty 

 the greatest. Mr. Strecker's remarks, 

 on p. 1 18 of his Catalogue, are so much 

 to the point that I will quote them here, 

 and can only say if our American col- 

 leagues do not agree with them, let them 

 rather point out how others may under- 



