on the genus Cotias. 25 



Colias Erschoffi, Alpb. 



Alph., Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross., xvi., t. xiv., figs. 1, 2, 

 p. 362, 1881 ; Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1883, p. 494. 



Of this sj)ecies I know nothing beyond the description 

 and figure cited. Judging from these alone I should 

 have said that there were no good characters by which 

 it might be separated ; but Alpheraky later speaks of it 

 as a " remarkable species which can be thus taken for 

 no other," and says "that the figures, especially that of 

 the females, are bad, and do not represent it properly "; 

 he says further "that it is nearest to C. Sagartia, and 

 has no resemblance to C. poUographus, as Erschoff 

 supposed." He does not, however, give any special 

 points of distinction, and for the present I should class 

 C. Erschoffi, with the doubtful species. 



Colias Boothii, Curt. 



Curt., Eoss., 2nd Voy., App., p. 65, t. a, figs. 3 — 5 

 (1835) ; Guenee, Ann. Ent. Soc. France, 1864, p. 198. 



After a re-examination of the specimens of this 

 species, and the numerous ones of C. Hecla from various 

 parts of Arctic America, which exist in the British 

 Museum, I am disposed to think that they are distinct 

 species, and that the typical C. Boothii is perhaps only 

 a form of C. Nastes. I can hardly believe that a peculiar 

 species should be confined to so small an area in the 

 Arctic Eegions as C. Boothii at present seems to be, 

 and there is so much variation amongst the speci- 

 mens themselves that it is not always possible to define 

 them. 



Dr. Staudinger tells me that the only two C. Boothii 

 he has seen are more like some varieties of C. Werdandi, 

 Zett., from Lapland, which is allowed by all entomologists 

 to be a form of Nastes. An additional argument in 

 favour of this theory is that the forms described as 

 Chione and Eossii, which connect Boothii with Nastes, 

 were taken in the same localities, and that no typical 

 Boothii have, as far as I know, been found in other parts 

 of Arctic America, though Nastes occurs both in N.E. 

 Labrador and at Hudson's Bay. 



PS.— I see that Holmgren, in Af. Vet. Acad. Forh. 

 Stockholm, xxix., pt. 6, p. 105, mentions C. Boothii as 



