3 



of the group, since I regard nierope as the most ancestral of the 

 genus with the probable exception of idiina, and aurinia as the most 

 modern palfearctic species of the group, excepting only its direct 

 derivative (h'!<fontainii ; although of course aurinia was not derived 

 from merope through waturna, nor even through cynthia, but either 

 directly through gradual divergence consequent on isolation, or 

 indirectly through some form now extinct, or at any rate still 

 undiscovered. Of these two hypotheses the former appears to me 

 the more probable, for the isolation of the two species is complete. 

 In the Alps they never approach within some 1,500ft. of each other 

 at the lowest computation, and in the Altai Mountains, where two 

 small mountain forms exist, the var. asiafica, which really is a form 

 of aurinia, occurs up to 4,000ft., and then after a gap of 2,000ft. 

 nierope appears, and may be taken from 6,000ft. to 8,000ft., as in 

 the Alps. The so-called merope of the Pyrenees is (like asiatica) a 

 small mountain form of aurinia, and not the Alpine species at all." 

 The details of the neuration should be referred to in support of this 

 contention, since the remnants of a much more primitive form are 

 to be found in uierope than 1 have ever found to occur in aurinia, 

 traces of the main stem of the obsolete nervure iii in the forewing 

 being plainly visible in the former, and the distal ends of its primary 

 bifurcation being well marked, especiall)' in the female. With 

 regard to partlienie and varia their specific distinctions are so many 

 and so definite that the only wonder is that they were ever taken for 

 the same species. The affinities of varia, as I have shown in the 

 paper already referred to, are really rather with aurelia and, less 

 closely, with asteria than with any others of the group. The con- 

 fusion existing in the writings of some of the German authors, and 

 unfortunately followed by Aurivillius, who calls aurelia parthenie, 

 and parthenie partlienoides, may in some measure account for the 

 persistent placing of varia as a mountain form of parthenie, and the 

 inclusion of varia under this heading certainly explains much that 

 has been written on parthenie which would otherwise be not only 

 unintelligible but even inexcusable. The true position of varia is of 

 some considerable importance, since it is somewhat widely spread 

 in the mountains of Asia, especially in the form alatauica, Stgr., in 

 company with one or two other closely-related species, whereas 

 partlienie is purely European and even, I believe, restricted to the 

 centre and west of Europe. 



We will now see what portions of the history of the genus we 

 can piece together from the very fragmentary materials at our 

 command. 



Whenever a group of closely related species is practically confined 

 to the paUiearctic region, especially if some of its members are found 

 in very high latitudes, and others (or the same) at great altitudes, it 

 is safe to conclude that the home of the ancestral species was 



* So also the specimens at ,South Kensington brought by Mrs. NichoU 

 from the Picos de Europa are tiny parthenie and not varia. 



