FebiujirA' iSc,o.] 



PSYCHE. 



313 



portancc tli:in in tht- other species ; 

 final'iv tlie costal border of the fore wings 

 does not appear to be quite so nuicli 

 arched. It is possible, perhaps e\en 

 probable, that this species is the true 

 Papilio a pjrrodite of Fabriciiis, but as 

 it is quite impossible to be certain of 

 it, the names ought to stand as given 

 by Mr. \S. H. Edwards, who first 

 clearh distinguished the species in this 

 difficult group. The species were 

 still confounded in the British Museum, 

 after tlie publication of Butler's Fabri- 

 cian butterflies, as I myself saw, and 

 notwithstanding Butler's remarks on 

 p. loS of that work." Its distribution, 

 according to Mr. Scudder, is much the 

 same as that of cvbcic and apJirodite., 

 but extends to Newfouiuiland, Lalirador, 

 and the Hudson Bay Territory ; on 

 Mead's authority he also gives Colorado, 

 but Edwards calls the form found 

 here electa., which also ranges into 

 New Mexico and Alontana. Whether 

 this is the same or not 1 cannot be 

 certain, as the description of electa in 

 *Field and Forest' is inaccessible ; but 

 I have a pair from Colorado, given me 

 by Mr. Holland (which are named 

 electa. I believe, by Air. Edwards), 

 and a female from S. W. Colorado, 

 taken by Morrison, which I cannot 

 separate from atlantis. Mead also gives 

 a clue to the correctness of this identifi- 

 cation with atlantis by mentioning the 

 strong musky odor of the Colorado 

 species, a peculiarity of atlantis to 

 which Scudder calls attention. Geddes 

 says that atlantis occurs in all parts of 

 the Rocky Movmtalns north of the 



American boundary which he \isited, 

 anil if this is correct, it can hardlv be 

 absent from Montana and C(^lora(lo. 

 fkit at the same time I must sav that 

 the male of so-called electa does not 

 difler from the female as does another 

 male from Colorado (sent bv Mr. H. 

 Edwards as /lesperis) in having the 

 silver spots of the luider side partially 

 obsolete. If, therefore, hcsperis and 

 atlantis., wdiich are placed next to each 

 other by Mead, and statetl to occur at 

 the same elevation in Colorado, run 

 into each other, as they seem to do, 

 ■sve are led into the belief that atlajitis 

 is liable, in the west, to the disappear- 

 ance of the silver spots, which takes 

 place in other American and European 

 species ; and then there Is no reason 

 why some of the forms which occur on 

 the Pacific States, such as cohitnhia 

 should not also belong to atlantis. I 

 do W(A sa\' that thev are so liecause it 

 would be unAvise to do so without 

 knowing them in nature better than I 

 or any living American naturalist does ; 

 but on the other hand I can see nothing 

 in the writings and figures of Mr. 

 Edwards to prove the contrary, or to 

 enable others to distinguish them. 

 A., col 21 nib i a H. Edw., was by him 

 considered as so near to atlantis that 

 it might be only a variety of it. It 

 was described from four males taken 

 at Lahache, near the Alaskan border 

 of British Columbia, and there is 

 nothing in the description worthy of 

 note ; but, when going through Mr. 

 Edwards's collection, I noted it as similar 

 to hesperis. 



