significance of wing-markiiiris. 107 



They correspond exactly, and C is also recognisable with 

 equal certainty in very many of the allied species, e. g., 

 P. huntera* P. gonerilla, P. callirrhoe, &c. (see figs. 

 5 — 11). In Arasclinia prorsa and Icvana Cis again to be 

 seen, in the former as a conspicuous pale yellow band, in 

 the latter as a portion of the light ground colour of the wing 

 between the dark areas II. and III. A similar condition 

 obtains also in Vanessa urticce and V. pohjchloros, in 

 both of which C begins on the costa as a yellow band, 

 which as it passes inwards soon becomes merged in the 

 general reddish brown ground colour, this happening 

 earlier in V.polychloros than in V.urticcs. In P. carije C is 

 distinct and circumscribed, and of the same colour as 

 the general surface of the wing. A relic of C is visible 

 in V. antiopa, and in V. to (fig. 12) the band is present 

 and modified to form the pale zone of the inner side of 

 the ocellus, being in this species of very nearly the 

 same pale yellow as in V. urticce. Many other allied 

 forms [e. g., the genera Grapta and Eurema) show C 

 with greater or less distinctness, and it is interesting to 

 observe that it passes over into the genera Limenitis 

 and Apatura. L. sihylla and A. iris both exhibit it very 

 plainly (figs. 19, 20). In these two insects it passes by 

 one interspace further into the wing than in most 

 specimens of P. cardui, but some specimens of the latter 

 show a paling of the ground colour in the situation 

 corresponding to this extension, which becomes more 

 marked on the under side ; and in European, though 

 not in American, specimens of V. atalanta a small white 

 projection is constantly present in the same place.! 

 Can an origin be assigned for this band C with the same 

 amount of probability as in the former cases ? Again 

 we look to Argynnis nipke ? for an answer to the 

 question. In this insect C is as distinct and conspicuous 

 as in any Pyramcis or Vanessa, and is plainly seen to be 

 an accentuation of the ground colour between the chain 



-'= According to Scudder (ojj. cit., vol. i., pp. 430, 458) C is white 

 in the male P. huntera, orange in the female. It is, however, 

 white in the large majority of specimens that I have seen. 



f This statement as to the difference between European and 

 American specimens of P. atalanta is made on the authority of 

 Doubleday and Westwood (o^j. cit., vol. i., p. 204), quoting 

 Stephens. A specimen in the Hope Collection, labelled as from 

 Illinois, in this respect resembles specimens from Europe. 



