570 Mr. H. J. Elwes on a 



distribution, according to Mr. Scudder, is much the 

 same as that of cyhele and aphrodite, but extends to New- 

 foundland, Labrador, and the Hudson Bay Territory : 

 on Mead's authority he also gives Colorado, but Edwards 

 calls the form found here electa, which also ranges into 

 New Mexico and Montana. Whether this is the same or 

 not I cannot be certain, as the description of electa in 

 ' Field and Forest ' is inaccessible ; but I have a pair 

 from Colorado, given me by Mr. Holland (which are 

 named electa, I believe, by Mr. Edwards), and a female 

 from S.W. Colorado, taken by Morrison, which I cannot 

 separate from atlantis. Mead also gives a clue to the cor- 

 rectness of this identification with atlantis by mentioning 

 the strong musky odour of the Colorado species, a pecu- 

 liarity of atlantis to which Scudder calls attention. 

 Geddes says that atlantis occurs in all parts of the 

 Eocky Mountains north of the American boundary 

 which he visited, and if this is correct, it can hardly be 

 absent from Montana and Colorado. But at the same 

 time I must say that the male of so-called electa does 

 not differ from the female as does another male from 

 Colorado (sent by Mr. H. Edwards as hesperis) in 

 having the silver spots of the under side partially obso- 

 lete. If, therefore, hesperis and atlantis, which are 

 placed next to each other by Mead, and stated to occur 

 at the same elevation in Colorado, run into each other, 

 as they seem to do, we are lead into the belief that 

 atlantis is liable, in the west, to the disappearance of 

 the silver spots, which takes place in other American 

 and European s[)ecies ; and then there is no reason why 

 some of the forms which occur on the Pacific States, 

 such as colnnibia, should not also belong to atlantis. 

 I do not say that they are so, because it would be 

 unwise to do so without knowing them in nature 

 better than I or any living American naturalist does ; 

 but on the other hand I can see nothing in the writings 

 and figures of Mr. Edwards to prove the contrary, or 

 to enable others to distinguish them. A. Columbia, H. 

 Edw., was by him considered as so near to atlantis that 

 it might be only a variety of it. It was described from 

 four males taken at Lahache, near the Alaskan border 

 of British Columbia, and there is nothing in the descrip- 

 tion worthy of note ; but, when going through Mr. H. 

 Edwards's collection, I noted it as similar to Jiesperis. 



