108 Dr. F. A. Dixey on the plujlocjenctic 



of spots II. and the series III. which comes next outside 

 it (hg. 4). The same appears with equal vividness in 

 A. sagana ? , and is plainly enough, though less strik- 

 ingly, visible in the melanic A. valesina (fig. 27). The 

 tendency to a lightening of the ground colour in this 

 particular region appears again in C. panther ata (fig. 28), 

 in this instance the ground colour being brown, though 

 not so bright as in most brown Argynnids. Turning to 

 Argynnis diana ? , we find C indicated by a simple 

 clearing up' of the ground colour between the dark 

 patches of series II. and III/, and thus the present line 

 of probable origin is seen to point in the same direction 

 with those before suggested. 



Although in the great majority of cases C is not 

 specially distinguished from the general ground colour, 

 except in the neighbourhood of the costa, yet there 

 are some exceptions which must be noted, as they are of 

 special interest. The yellow patch (C n, fig. 32) near the 

 anal angle of the fore wing in V. urticce belongs to this 

 series, as also the yellow shade at the costal margin of 

 the hind wing in the same species. These are both 

 recognisable in V. j^oli/chloros, and the latter in V. io 

 plainly contributes to the pale zone surrounding the 

 ocellus of the hind wing. But perhaps the most 

 striking development of this series occurs in A. sagana ? , 

 where several members of the series are picked out 

 in pale primrose. In the hind wing of this species a 

 broad band is thus formed, which at once suggests the 

 band that crosses the hind wing in so many species of 

 the genera Apatnra and Li)nenitis (figs. 29, 30). That the 

 band in Limenitis corresponds with that in Apatnra will 

 scarcely be questioned, and that the band in Apatnra 

 exactly coincides in position with C 6 — | in A. sagana ? 

 will be evident on a comparison of the latter insect with 

 ^1. ilia, in which the spots of series III. are persistent.* 

 The apparent continuation of the same white band on 

 the fore wing of Apatnra and Limenitis would also 

 appear to be the counterpart of Ce — » in A. sagana ? , 

 and we are thus led to conjecture that both Apatnra and 

 Limenitis may have taken their origin from a form like 

 the present. 



''■ As they are also in some other species of Apatura, e.j., A, 

 celtis and A. clyton. 



