significance of icing -markings. 93 



in the former species the crescent shape only indicated 

 in the latter. 



In P. atalanta, however, we find that the series does 

 not end with no. 4, which we have called J. There is in 

 this species always present a fifth spot, continuing the 

 curve, and in the female a sixth as well* (figs. 6, 7, t, C) ; 

 this last spot, a very small one, coming within the red 

 band of the fore wing. Now the first of these spots 

 obviously corresponds with the white costal patch in V. 

 urticce, which I have called D. I shall continue, there- 

 fore, to refer to the six spots under the names of the 

 first six letters of the Greek alphabet, a, 0, y, J; e, i, 

 speaking of them collectively as series D. 



Although in the great majority of specimens of P. 

 cardtd only the first four terms of this series are repre- 

 sented, yet it sometimes happens that the fifth, and 

 even in rare cases the sixth, is present as well. A 

 specimen of P. cardui was caught at Mortehoe, North 

 Devon, by Miss Daisy Longstaff, in the autumn of 

 1889 (fig. 8), in which e is as distinct as in P. atalanta. 

 Two specimens in the Hope Collection at Oxford show 

 the same peculiarity ; one being British, the other from 

 North America. In most of these cases the spot is 

 larger on the under surface of the wing than on the 

 upper.t 



On the other hand, in P. hunter a and P. myrinna, 

 which bear a general resemblance to P. cardui, I have 

 never seen e ; but 4" is always present and usually very 

 conspicuous (fig. 9). 



In all other species of the genus Pyrameis the series 

 is present in greater or less completeness. The spots 

 most constantly present are « and J. In those members 

 of the group that approach P. atalanta in aspect, /3 and 



''•'■ A specimen in the British Museum has this sixth spot on the 

 left side and not on the right. Scudder, in his ' Butterflies of the 

 Eastern United States,' lb89, does not notice this spot either in his 

 description (voL i., p. 442), or figure (voL iii., ph 2, fig. 6). The 

 latter is expressly said to be of P. atalanta $ . 



t A third specimen of P. cardui in the Hope Collection shows 

 the whole range from a to i^; ^ is here well marked on the under- 

 surface, but on the upper only faintly indicated, — being, indeed, 

 reduced to a few scales of lighter shade than the general ground 

 colour. A specimen in the British Museum resembles the Mortehoe 

 specimen in the presence of s, but differs from it in another 

 respect ; see below, p. 113. 



