684 Mr. G. F. Leigh on Synepigonic series of 



indicated. The mark corresponding to the sickle is not 

 bent in a curve but at a right angle. 



Meriones and antinorii, with non-mimetic females re- 

 sembling the males (also accompanied by mimetic females 

 in the case of antinorii), are certainly ancestral as compared 

 with other forms of the group, and therefore it is almost 

 equally certain that the interrupted black submarginal 

 band of the male is ancestral as compared with the 

 continuous band. 



Tlie submarginal bands of the 6 males of the 1902 



synepigonic group may be briefly compared as follows: — 



SiKcimen 1. — Costal gap distinctly indicated, but closed 



by a broad sickle. Inner gap indicated by narrowing 



of band. 



Specimen 2. — Costal gap closed by a narrow sickle. 



Inner gap as in 1, but slightly less narrow. 

 Specimen 3. — Costal gap open : inner much narrowed. 

 Specimen 4. — Costal gap closed by a narrow sickle : 



inner still more narrowed than in 3. 

 Specimen 5. — Costal gap indicated only by a slight 

 narrowing (less marked than in any other specimen). 

 Inner gap open, with faint traces of narrow band. 

 Specimen 6. — Costal gap closed by a narrow sickle : 

 inner open, with a small detached spot midway 

 between the nervules which form its boundaries. 

 This specimen is much dwarfed, and it is possible 

 that the marked discontinuity of the band may be 

 due to reversion, brought about by the shock of 

 abnormal conditions. 

 The appearance of the band in the male parent is clearly 

 indicated in Plate XXXI, Fig. 2. The costal gap is closed 

 by a sickle intermediate in breadth between those of the 

 above-described specimens 1 and 4. The inner gap, only 

 preserved on the left side, is more freely open than in any 

 of the offspring. 



The male parent (see Plate XXXI, Fig. 2) is, I believe, 

 somewhat less heavily marked in this respect than is usual 

 in the Southern form of P. cenca, and the offspring are 

 upon the whole also less heavily marked. At the same 

 time, they exhibit very interesting individual variations, 

 never quite reaching the open condition of the inner gap 

 in the parent, but in half of the examples going beyond 

 their parent in the degree of development of the costal 

 gap. 



