484 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



quarter of an inch more than Irish specimens. Staudinger records 

 specimens from the Ala Tau, in Central Asia, of quite the ordinary 

 European form. We would call the aberration in which spots 3 and 5, 

 and 2 and 4, tend to be separated, ab. separata, n. ab. 



The following appear to be the principal local races and aberrations 

 that have so far been described : 



1. With the three blotches narrow and ill-developed = ab. (et var.) interrupta, 



Staud. 



2. With the three blotches well-developed, but separated by strongly defined 



nervures = purpuralis, Briin., pytliia, Fab., pilosellae, Esp., nubigena, 

 Newman. 



3. The blotches like the type, but the specimens rather smaller = var. 



graeca, Staud. (?MS. name only). 



4. Also rather small, and the outer spot not dilated, but wedge-shaped ab. 



pluto, Ochs. 



5. Typical, but with the ordinary red areas of a yellow tint = ab. lutesccns, 



n. ab. 



6. The outer spot large, reaches well towards the outer margin ; outer margin 



more convex ; the antennae more attenuated from club towards base = var. 

 heringi, Zell. 



7. With the three blotches united, but with distinct dark outer and inner 



marginal areas to forewings = ab. polygalae, Esp. 



8. With the fore-wings almost entirely coppery-red, no differentiation into three 



spots, a narrow outer margin only = ? ab. rnbicundus, Hb. 



9. Thinly scaled, the normal red coloration of a pale crimson = var. nubigena, 



Led. 



10. More thinly scaled than 9, red colour duller, the outer wedge-shaped spot 



broadened outwardly, the two basal spots united in ? = var. diaphana, 

 Staud. 



11. All the normally red markings suffused with blackish = ab. obscura, n. ab. 

 a. ab. interrupta, Staud., "Cat. Lep. Eur.," p. 45 (1871). Macula media 



latius interrupta. 



The specimens in the British Museum collection bearing this name 

 have comparatively thin streaks, and, therefore, exhibit a prepon- 

 derance of the ground colour, in other words, the red streaks are 

 separated very markedly by unusually broad lines of the darker ground- 

 colour. It has been recorded from Trafoi (Staudinger), Gadmen 

 (Ratzer), not rare in South Sweden (Aurivillius), Freiburg and 

 Weinheim (Reutti), with the type nr. Pont-de-1'Arche and Rouen 

 (Dupont), occurs at Abersoch and in Galway (Tutt). 



/3. var. graeca, Staud. (? MS. name only) ; Tutt, "Ent. Eec.," v., p. 273. Speci- 

 mens occurred on the Parnassus, in the second half of June, also on the 

 Veluchi. Since this common species varies somewhat everywhere, both in the 

 larval and imaginal states, one cannot look upon the Greek specimens as distinct, 

 and less so since they vary inter se. I find, howeyer, that the blue-black of the 

 fore-wings in the Greek females, has generally a strong tendency to whitish 

 (Horae Soc. Ent. Ross., vii., p. 102). 



Judging from the specimens in the British Museum collection, 

 var. graeca is small, but otherwise almost typical in appearance. 



7. ab. lutescens, n. ab. The ordinary red spots of the fore-wings, and the red 

 portion of the hind-wings, yellow in colour. This aberration is very rare. Allen 

 records a specimen from Galway (vide, Ent. Record, etc., v., p. 217). 



S. ab. pluto, Ochs., " Die Schmett.," ii., p. 26 ; Bdv., " Icones," ii., p. 40, pi. lii., 

 fig. 4 (1834) ; Dup., " Lep. France," p. 38, pi. iv., fig. 3 (1835). Alis anticis cyaneis, 

 aut virescentibus, maculis tribus elongatis rubris posteriore cuneiform! : posticis 

 rubris, margine nigricante. It is to be distinguished from Z. minos by its somewhat 

 smaller size, the clubs of the antennae are less thickened, the wings more rounded 

 and broader on the outer margin. The ground colour is darker, it may even be 

 black- blue or green ; the red spots are finer, the third is wedge-shaped and shorter, 

 fading off towards the outside into the ground colour. The black border of the 

 hind-wings broadens at the angle. The female is greenish, and has a white-grey 



