74 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



The genus Melitcea includes all the smaller European Fritil- 

 laries which are not marked with silver or purplish on the 

 under surface, except the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary (Nemeo- 

 bius lurind). This is the only British, and indeed almost the 

 only European, representative of the family Lemoniidce, and 

 consequently a species which will find its proper place in our 

 second volume. N. lucina, apart from its structural differ- 

 ences and much smaller size, may be at once distinguished by 

 the prevailing colour being blackish, with tawny spots, all 

 isolated, and those towards the margins of the hind-wings 

 enclosing black dots. 



The generic characters of Melitcea are similar to those of 

 Brenthis ; the club of the antennae is moderately long, very 

 large and flattened, and the fore-wings are rather longer than in 

 Brenthis, with no median spur, and the hind-margins of all the 

 wings are rounded and slightly denticulated. The tibiae and 

 tarsi of the four hinder legs are furnished with two or three 

 rows of bristles on the under side only. The palpi are hairy, but 

 not thickened. The larvae are provided with short hairy warts, 

 but are not set with branding spines, as in Argynnis and 

 Brenthis. 



The genus Melitcea is widely spread throughout the Palae- 

 arctic Region, and is likewise found in North America, where 

 it is especially numerous in California. Most of the North 

 American species belong to a peculiar group, generally exceed- 

 ing the European species in size, and of a black colour, more 

 or less spotted with white and red. But in South America the 

 genus is replaced by the allied genera Phyciodes, Htibner, and 

 Eresia, Boisduval, the former of which is likewise numerous 

 in North America. 



Our three British species biMditaa are representative of the 

 three European groups of the genus. The larvae feed on 

 plantain, scabious, and other plants growing on waste ground, 



