significance of wing -markings. 95 



compare the following — E. dione, E. kefersteinii, P. 

 huntera, P. atalanta ? , there will be no possible doubt 

 of the correctness of the identification (figs. 15, 16, 

 17). 



In V. polychloros (fig. 18), the spots of this series are 

 of a reddish yellow, not very far removed from the 

 orange-brown ground colour of the wing ; nevertheless 

 it is usually easy to identify a, /3 & y. The rest of the 

 series is less readily made out ; however, in some 

 specimens ^, e and ^ are to be distinguished, and even a 

 further member which we may call yj. 



V. urticoB, as we have seen, has a well developed and 

 pure white in colour, but no further members of the 

 series are present. 



In F. antiopa, a and $ are conspicuous and fused ; y 

 and ^ are faintly visible in some specimens, both on the 

 upper and under side. 



The same series of spots may, perhaps, be traced in the 

 genera A'patura and Limenitis. If we compare the fore 

 wing of Apatura iris with that of Vanessa atalanta, we 

 cannot fail to be struck with the general resemblance of the 

 pattern at the apex in the two cases, though whether the 

 outer series of white spots in A. iris really corresponds 

 with that in V. atalanta seems doubtful. Spots, however, 

 more or less answering to /3, y and e, are easily recog- 

 nised in the male A. iris, while in the female a and ^ are 

 possibly present as well (fig. 19). There is, however, a 

 certain departure from the Vanessa and Pyrameis type, 

 in respect of the arrangement and relative size of the 

 spots. Thus, /3 and s are relatively large in Apatura, 

 small in Pyrameis ; moreover in A. iris, e though preser- 

 ving the same relation to the nervules of the wing as in 

 Pyrameis and Vanessa, seems as far as the pattern 

 is concerned to have stepped into the place of ^. 



In L. sibylla we find the series present in A. iris 

 verging towards disappearance. It is not difficult, how- 

 ever, to identify a, and probably ft and i (fig. 20). 



But the most interesting results in connection with 

 this series follow from tracing it in another direction. The 

 general uniformity of pattern in the genus Argynnis is 

 well known, and at first sight it may seem that these 

 insects present nothing that corresponds to this series of 

 spots. If, however, A. valesina, the melanic variety of 

 the female of A. paphia (which probably represents a 



