80 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
altogether the idea which I once entertained, that their 
respective tints were adapted, for the purpose of self- 
protection and disguise, to the particular colour of the soil 
that they inhabited. Notwithstanding, there is no ground, I 
should imagine, for supposing that the discrepancy of their 
hues constitutes them two distinct species, inasmuch as we 
possess a similar instance of various colouring in the Heli- 
conius Doris, of the Amazon region, where var. A has the 
stripes on the lower wings of a bright brick-red, and var. B of 
a slaty blue. I may remark that the upper wings of both 
varieties are of very different shades, in the case of several 
specimens that I observed and captured, being sometimes of 
a uniform dark hue, occasionally variously mottled, and 
others, again, indistinguishable in colour from the dust of the 
road on which they were settled: a familiar instance in point, 
I may observe, is furnished by the numerous tints of the 
upper wings of our own common yellow underwing (Pronuba). 
O. Germanica presents the same number of different. tints of 
upper wing, as far as I am aware, in red and blue varieties 
alike, nor is there any mark in the said wings whereby one may 
determine which of the two it is, until the insect is disturbed, 
and flies upwards from its resting-place. However, it may be 
noteworthy to add, with regard to the specimens in my own 
collection, that a uniform dark tint is the most frequent form 
of the upper wing of the red variety, whereas that of the blue 
is more often variously mottled. I myself possess two speci- 
mens of the red variety having the upper wings mottled, but 
none of the blue that, in this respect, are dark. But it 
is very likely that a series of this same insect in another 
cabinet may tell a widely different tale, in reference to the 
above particulars. I have now only one more point to notice, 
namely, that in all my specimens of the red variety the black 
band, which borders the red in the lower wings, extends to 
the extreme margin of the same, whereas in the blue, without 
exception, beyond the same black band, there is always “a 
transparent piece of network.” I subjoin a list of localities, 
where I have noticed both varieties of this insect:—Black 
Forest, Baden Baden, August, 1857, only blue variety. 
Mount Pilate, October, 1865, only red variety. Pontresina, 
September, 1872, only red variety. Road to Roseg Glacier, 
August, 1872, only red variety. Geneva, August, 1872, a few 
