4 PSYCHE [February 



IV. The "Varieties" of Proserpina. 



Proserpina is the only one of the problematic Basilarchias here listed which by 

 its variability is susceptible of subdivision. That proserpina as heretofore treated 

 comprises several well-marked forms I believe to be clearly apparent from the data 

 already accumulated. Yet arthemis is credited in all our catalogues with being 

 dimorphic only, znd proserpina is given as the alternate form. To attempt a com- 

 plete list of the proper subdivisions at this time would be premature : but it seems 

 desirable to point out four of them, as follows : 



(a) The typical proserpina, described by Edwards in 1865. The size is that 

 of an average arthemis ; ground color black or very dark brown ; the mesial white 

 band shows faintly as a broken row of dots on the primaries above, and somewhat 

 more distinctly below. On the secondaries there is no mesial band, and the blue 

 spots are very small. The female of this form was described by Edwards in 1868 

 as "similar " to the male. Figures i and 2 on Plate III. show two males of this 

 form taken in Alstead, N. H. ; the second specimen was reversed to show the under 

 surface. Fig. 3 on Plate I. shows an example from Andes, N. Y. 



(b) A larger form, with mesial band developed on primaries to about one-third 

 of its area in typical arthemis, and broadest at the costa. Ground color dark as in 

 the preceding, and blue spots restricted. On Plate III., fig. 3 shows a female from 

 Sullivan County, N. Y., and fig. 4 a male from Alstead, N. H. 



(c) A large form, with distinctly brown ground color; the mesial band appears 

 on both pairs of wings, but is narrow and irregular as compared with the band on 

 typical arthemis. Red spots appear on upper surface of secondaries as in most 

 specimens of arthemis. Figured (Plate III., fig. 5) from a male taken in Temple, 

 N. H. 



(d) A form resembling astyanax ( ursula) in many ways, yet having the white 

 band well developed on all the wings. The blue scales on the upper surface of 

 secondaries are abundant and brilliant. This form is called by some collectors a 

 "white-banded ursuhi.^'' A small specimen of this form, reared at Sharon, Mass., 

 from a hibernating larva by Mr. A. C. Sampson, is figured as fig. 6 on Plate III.* 

 Very large specimens, taken on Long Island, are in the collections of Messrs. Jacob 

 Doll and H. H. Newcomb. There are two specimens in the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology ; one of these is from Deerfield, Mass., and the other bears no locality 

 label. The specimen from the Mead collection is similar to these, but shows 

 more red on the upper surface. 



I'liis speciiiK'ii is now in Mr. Newcomh's collection. 



