154 BULLETIN UNH/ERSITY OF MONTANA. 



"The males differ from all the other species of this genus in the clear- 

 ness of the upper surface of the wings; occasionally the wings are some- 

 what suffused with dusky, but usually the hind wings have but a narrow 

 edging of blackish, broadened, naturally, along the costal border; and 

 the fore wings, instead of having a distinctly limited bordering, as is 

 common to a greater or less extent in most species, have the wing gradu- 

 ally more and more suffused with a warm bud dusky tint toward the tip, 

 as is not unfrequently the case in P. comma. Sometimes the mesial belt 

 of the under surface is isible above, but occasionally, at least, it is wholly 

 absent. The female scarcely differs, upon the upper surface, from the 

 females of P. comma, except in almost uniformly having the small 

 subapical spots, both those near the costal, and those near the outer 

 border, paler than the others, or nearly white, as occasionally happens in 

 the females of P. comma. Beneath, the mesial white band of the hind 

 wings is more irregular and scattered than in P. comma. In the male it 

 is usually broken up into four patches, connected, by their angles only, 

 into a continuous angular belt; three of these patches, of nearly equal 

 size, but the middle one usually the largest, lie in a straight line parallel 

 to the longer axis of the wing, situated one each in the subcostal and sub- 

 costo median interspaces, as far from the outer border as the second 

 patch; the medio-submedian spot further removed from the border than 

 the rest; the ground color of the wing is a greenish griseous, and the 

 spots are narrowly edged exteriorly and interiorly with blackish. The 

 markings of the female are similar, excepting that they are usually a 

 little larger and more obviously continuous.often sending out on the ex- 

 terior border little shoots of white along the nervules." 



This species with its many varieties is found in Europe, America and 

 Asia. In the Canadian Entomologist of 1883, Vol. XV, is an interesting 

 discussion by Dr. A. Speyer and W. H. Edwards relative to the compari- 

 son of specimens from different localities. 



There are the following varieties recognized in Dyar's list, Bulletin 

 52, U. S. Nat. Mus.; oregonia, Columbia, Colorado, idaho, nevada, assini- 

 boia, laurentina, manitoboides, juba, viridis, manitoba. In his later 

 revision of the group, Journal N. Y. Entomological Society, September, 

 1905, he thinks three or four names will suffice. Laurentina Lyman, Colo- 

 rado Scudder equals manitoba Scudder equals nevada Scudder, Columbia 

 Scudder, idaho Edwards equals assiniboia Lyman he refers to the syno- 

 nym of comma. 



The varieties are distinguished about as follows: 



Hind wings below dark brown, spots moderate laurentina 



Hind wings below green, spots often reduced Colorado 



Hind wings below grayish green, the spots often small and tending to 



form a straight row; smaller than the other forms Columbia 



Hind wings below light yellow or greenish idaho 



Distribution This is a European species, found in Northern United 

 States, the Pacific States, and in the Rocky Mountain States. Dr. Coues 

 collected the variety Colorado along the northern border in 1874. It has 

 been taken by Barnes at Aldridge, and by Brandegee at Helena. 



