revision of the genus Argynnis. 571 



A. lais, of which I have seven of the specimens from 

 Eed-deer Kiver, from which the species was described, 

 seems to me very near atlantis, but separable by the 

 smaller size, paler colour, and apparently by the 

 less raised scales of the submedian veins in the male. 

 Edwards, however, says it is the size of atlantis, and 

 stands between that and aphrodite. Geddes does not 

 tell us how to distinguish them, but says that it was 

 found on the prairies about Fort Edmonton, while 

 atlantis occurred in the mountains. 



A. coronis is a species which seems to have a very wide 

 range west of the Eocky Mountains, and varies a good 

 deal, but may be recognised in most of its forms by the 

 large ovoid silver spots of the under side of the hind 

 wing. It is apparently most nearly allied to edivardsi, 

 with its forms neimdcnsis and meadii, but these differ in 

 the longer, narrower shape of the fore wing, and do not 

 seem to be found on the Pacific coast. There occur, 

 however, in Nevada forms which are described as laiira 

 and macaria, of which I have authentic specimens from 

 Mr. H. Edwards, and which, by their under sides, seem 

 to be coronis ; whilst chitone, also sent by Mr. H. Edwards 

 from Nevada, does not agree with AV. H. Edwards's de- 

 scription on the under side, and is nearer to nevadensis. 

 None of these names can, in my opinion, be retained 

 except as synonyms, though they are all three kept up 

 in Mr. W. H. Edwards's 1884 Catalogue as distinct 

 species. 



Whether edwardsi, nevadensis, and meadii are distinct 

 is a more doubtful question. Certainly meadii, which I 

 have taken in the Yellowstone Park, looks very different 

 from the large edwardsi of Colorado, but I have some 

 fromMontana, taken by Morrison, and from the N.W. Ter- 

 ritory of Canada by Geddes, named nevadensis, which are 

 perfectly intermediate in size and colour ; whilst others, 

 sent by Strecker as nevadensis from Colorado, resemble 

 aphrodite in the colour of their hind wings below. Mead 

 says : — " The three closely-allied species, edwardsi, 

 nevadensis, and meadii, seem to be related to each other 

 in much the same way as the eastern aphrodite, cyhele, 

 and atlantis. In edwardsi the pale submarginal band 

 below is narrower, and sometimes almost obsolete, as in' 

 aphrodite, and it ranges up to greater elevations than 

 nevadensis. which has this band comparatively broad in 



