4 Mr. H. J. Elwes' additional notes 



cannot be any longer ignored by the " species makers" ; 

 and I think it is quite time to ignore even the names of 

 those so-called species which are published, as they too 

 frequently are, with incomplete and misleading descrip- 

 tions, without figures, and very often based on most 

 scanty and imperfect materials. 



But to return to our Colias. I have, since I last 

 wrote, examined carefully the finest collections in Europe 

 and England, namely, those of Dr. Staudinger, Felder, 

 Miitzell, Honrath, and the public collections of Vienna 

 and Berlin, in Germany, also those of M. C. Oberthiir 

 at Eennes. I have seen thousands of Colias from all parts 

 of the world, including many of the most extraordinary 

 aberrations, varieties, and supposed hybrids, and have 

 come to the conclusion that, though typical male speci- 

 mens of the forms enumerated below may be recognised 

 by any one having a thorough acquaintance with the 

 genus without knowledge of their origin, yet in the case 

 of females it is often impossible to do so, and males of 

 almost all the species can be found which it would he 

 impossible to name without knowing where they came 

 from. 



My own collection contains a good series of all the 

 species except three or four, and there are only one or 

 two doubtful ones, of which I have not seen many speci- 

 mens in other collections. Notwithstanding this I think 

 the time has not yet come when the genus Colias can he 

 monographed in a satisfactory manner, and my remarks 

 will only express present opinions, which are liable to be 

 modified or changed as our knowledge increases. 



I shall adhere, for convenience sake, to the division of 

 the genus which I indicated in my first paper, though 

 there are one or two species in which the spots on the 

 border are not constant in one or both sexes. 



Of the life-history of Colias Edusa we have an excellent 

 account by Mr. Fitch in the 'Entomologist,' vol. xi., 

 p. 49 (1878), in which he brings together the numerous 

 observations made by English entomologists in the year 

 1877, when this species was extremely abundant, though 

 I have not seen in England a single specimen since 

 then. He states that the size varies from 1*25 in. to 

 2*4 in. ; the shape varies very much, as well as the 

 colour, some specimens having a purple or blue sheen, 

 as in Myrmidone, The marginal band varies slightl}^ in 

 shape, much in width and colour. The discal spot is 



