100 Dr. F. A. Dixey on the phylofieiietic 



ever, they are fused, though seldom without retaining 

 clear indications of their separate nature. Although the 

 black constituent of this submarginal series (IV.) ceases 

 to exist as a consi3icuous feature behind the region of 

 the ocellus, a relic of it can be detected in most, if not 

 all, specimens in the form of a small dark patch just 

 outside the spot e, with a few blue scales to indicate the 

 blue centre. 



On page 94 attention was called to the invasion of 

 the spots D /3 — ^t in V. io by a blue coloration. This 

 affects both the spots themselves and the surrounding 

 area of the wing, the scales composing the spots being 

 not quite white, but a very pale blue, and the surrounding 

 areas having scales of a blue nearly or quite as intense 

 as that of the blue centres 2, 3, 4, plentifully mixed with 

 other scales that merely present the bright chestnut of 

 the general ground colour of the wing. This last 

 feature in the colouring I shall speak of as the "blue 

 shade." Its appearance in V. io irresistibly suggests 

 the inference that it is due to an extension inwards of 

 the blue of the centres of the fused submarginal spots, 

 and this is put almost beyond doubt by a comparison of 

 the corresponding region in P. atalanta, P. huntera, 

 and P. gonerilla. 



As has been before mentioned, the submarginal black 

 band is quite recognisable in the fore wing of P. atalanta, 

 though to some extent masked by the general black 

 colour of the wing. We have seen that the blue centres 

 are represented at the anal angle of the hind wing. 

 But they are also represented in the fore wing, in some 

 specimens with great distinctness, by two or three 

 crescentic blue patches in the black ground colour, just 

 outside the spots /3, y, 5", e, — nearly the same situation, 

 in fact, as the blue centres that survive in the fore wing 

 of V. polycldoros. These blue crescents, though usually 

 well outside the white spots, in some cases approach 

 them closely, and may even encroach upon ^, as in a 

 specimen in the Hope Collection. We have only to turn 

 to P. gonerilla to see this encroachment carried to a 

 much greater extent. Here a. is bordered with blue on 

 its outer side, ^ has a narrow blue band surrounding it, 

 expanding externally to a broad blue margin ; /?, y and s 

 are blue altogether. 



I have only once seen anything of the kind in P. cardid, 



