revision of the genus Argynnis. 565 



Scudder, in the ' Butterflies of New England,' has 

 figured the abdominal organs of several species of 

 Argynnis on Plate 33, which gives an opportunity of 

 comparing some nearly allied species. Those of A. 

 cyhele, fig. 44, A. aphrodite, fig. 40, are very similar 

 indeed, but as they do not appear to agree exactly with 

 the descriptions, and the figure of that of aphrodite is 

 not alluded to in the description on p. 565, I do not 

 know whether the description was made from the 

 same specimens figured, and whether we are to attribute 

 the difference to variation, or to incorrect drawing. 

 The clasper of atlantis (fig, 36), also much resembles 

 those of cyhele and aphrodite, but has the hook longer 

 and nearer the clasp. The figures of the androconia of 

 these three species (Plate 46, figs. 12, 13, 14), are also 

 very similar, and, taken in connection with the claspers, 

 do not lead one to suppose that very much help will be 

 given in deciding the relationship of nearly allied species 

 in this genus by a microscopic examination. The clas- 

 pers of A. myrina, hellona, and montinus (Plate 33, figs. 

 35, 38, 42), all included by Scudder in the genus Brcnthis, 

 show a general similarity of form inter se, with the same 

 minor differences as those of cyhele, aphrodite, and 

 atlantis. I at first supposed that some difference might 

 be found in the scales clothing the median veins in 

 the males, but on examination with a powerful lens 

 idalia is the only North American species in which 

 the raising is conspicuous, though in some specimens 

 of atlantis and aphrodite, and others, it is clearly per- 

 ceptible. The tuft of silky hairs on the subcostal nerve 

 is present in the males of all the larger species that 

 I have examined, and is very conspicuous in idalia, but 

 I have not found it in the smaller species which have 

 been separated under the genus Brenthis. 



A. idalia and A. diana are two of the most beautiful 

 species in the whole genus, and may be said to form the 

 best links between those species of Eastern Asia, which 

 end thePalaearctic series, and the American species, which 

 are isolated from them. A. diana has the sexes more 

 different than any except sagana, and if the genus was 

 divided into groups would be another instance of an 

 American species having its nearest affinities in North- 

 eastern Asia and Japan, of which we have several among 

 the plants of the Alleghany Mountains. 



