90 Psyche [June 
ARGYNNIS CYBELE FAB., VARIETY BAAL, STRECK. 
MELANIC.$¢ 
By H. H. Newcoms, 
Boston, Mass. 
This handsome butterfly so well illustrated on the preceding 
plate was captured by Dr. S. Graenicher of the Public Museum, 
Milwaukee, on Aug. 1, 1909, at the junction of the Yellow and St. 
Croix Rivers, Burnett County, Wis. It was taken on the flowers of 
the common ox-eye daisy (Rudbeckia hirta L.). By comparison 
with photographs of two specimens of Strecker’s baal, 7, *, kindly 
sent me by Mr. F. J. V. Skiff, director of the Field Museum of Nat- 
ural History at Chicago, it seems to correspond perfectly with those 
insects except for its melanism. On both sides the colors and shad- 
ings are those of cybele except for the intense blackness on certain 
areas as shown by the plate. The clustering of the three large silver 
spots at the base of the secondaries on the under side produce a 
marked and beautiful effect. It was my pleasure to see recently a 
melanic cybele * in the collection of Mr. Joseph Mattes, New York 
City, and also a photograph of another sent:me from the Field 
Museum, which Mr. W. J. Gerhard stated “is one of four specimens 
from Chicago,’ but these were quite distinct from the var. baal as 
shown here. 
The above specimen is the property of the Public Museum, Mil- 
waukee, and was taken during the collecting expedition sent out 
from there last summer. 
