rerision of the genus Argynnis. 537 



Most other authors have adopted the same view, in 

 which I quite concur, because the position of the sub- 

 costal nervules is not the same in all the species of 

 either section, and some, as A. daphne, A. hccate, 

 A. gemmata, and A. altissima, have the second branch of 

 the subcostal nervule given off so close to the end of the 

 cell that it can hardly be said to which group they 

 belong; while A. clara, which by de Niceville is included 

 in the first section of Arggnnis, is in my opinion more 

 closely allied to gemmata than to any other, and has the 

 second branch emitted beyond the cell. The South 

 American sj^ecies have the venation as in Brenthis, and 

 except modesta, Blanch., differ from all the European 

 sjoecies in the straight or slightly concave fore margin 

 of the hind wings. Latlionia and hellona have some- 

 what the same shaped fore wings, but epithore, which is 

 undoubtedly very near to, if not a variety of, hellona, has 

 the usual shape of the outer margin, and some specimens 

 of hellona seem intermediate. 



Scudder has founded a new genus Speyeria for A. 

 idalia, but as the descrij)tion is not comparative, and 

 extends over two closely-printed quarto pages, it is not 

 easy to see in what it differs from Argynnis, except that 

 the second subcostal nervule is emitted "at the end 

 of the cell, or a little within the extreme limit of its 

 upper border, which is here pushed outward a little " 

 instead of before it, as in Argynnis, or beyond it, as in 

 Brenthis, both of which he adopts as genera. 



On examining my eight specimens of idalia, however, 

 I find that in all of them the second subcostal nervule 

 is emitted distinctly before the end of the cell, not so 

 much perhaps as in some Argynnis, but more than in 

 others. And the grouping of species on such a character 

 as this will lead to such impossible results, from all 

 other points of view, and especially from that of their 

 geographical distribution, that I cannot accept it, and 

 prefer to retain all the species in one genus. 



Moore, in the * Lepidoptera of Ceylon,' has adopted 

 Hiibner's name Acidalia for A. niphe ; as usual, without 

 giving the points of difference between it and Argynnis 

 proper ; and though perhaps it has a different aspect to 

 any other species, and by its geographical distribution 

 is a tropical insect, I think it best to keep it in the 

 genus. 



2 p2 



