857 



Now coming to the question, if still more indications of this 

 original design can be found in tlie family of Arctiidae, the answer, 

 in my opinion may be this, that here and there traces of it can be 

 discovered, though very incomplete and indistinct. Spilardia {Diacri- 

 sid) viultiguttata (Seitz. Vol. X, Taf. 22), Pericallia ricini (ib. X 25a), 

 Alpkaea falvokirta (ibid. X, T. 25) show a division into ten alter- 

 nately light and dark areas along the front side of the median vein: 

 in the first species tiie dark parts wear the character of spots, in 

 the latter the light ones. The increasing of the number istheconse- 

 quence of subdivision of three out of the seven spots along the 

 front margin. 



Moreover the question may be proposed, if the variegated pattern 

 in black, white and red, as occurring on the front wings of Utetlieisa 

 (Deiopeia) pulchella and other species of this genus, might possibly 

 be founded on an original repartition of the wing-fieid into a num- 

 ber of bars twice as large as that indicated by the rows of black 

 markings. 



According to the ingenious supposition of de Meyere, the red 

 markings in this pattern represent the groundcolour, while the white 

 spaces should be considered as light courts around the black spots, 

 these courts having coalesced so as to form a white mazework sur- 

 rounding the red patches. It cannot be denied that this inference 

 finds a powerful support in the design on the forewings of another 

 Arctiid, scil. Argina cribraria, where the black spots on the yellow 

 ground are surrounded by light courts, which but rarely enter into 

 connection with each other, and are totally absent on the underside, 

 as they also sometimes are on the superior surface, and always on 

 both sides of the hind wing, whose design is for the rest quite 

 similar to that of the forewing. 



But in Utetheisa we are struck by the fact that on the border- 

 lines between red and white spots brown demarcation-lines occur, 

 which contribute to their character of independent spots with a 

 specific form. Moreover in a few cases red spots are found to be 

 divided into halves by a similar brown median bar. This makes 

 me doubt, whether de Meyere's conception of this and similar 

 colour patterns gives a clear and complete insight into their real 

 nature. For I think it risky to start from the supposition that the 

 colour pattern of Lepidoptera-wings should be composed of a ground- 

 colour, serving as a ground against which markings of another hue 

 stand out. According to my view no fundamental contrast exists 

 between ground colour and markings ; they have a common origin 

 and become modified in the same way, by similar influences. 



