6 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan. 



Metallic-blue grades into black. Pacilus mauritanicus looks 

 black, but shines a brilliant blue-green. Perilampus cyaneus is 

 blue, but P. hyalitius, in the same genus, is black. 



Perhaps a still higher development in the metallic series is crim- 

 son. This color appears prominently in some lovely species of 

 the genus Chrysis in Europe, especially the common C. ignita. 

 In America nearly all the species of Chrysis are blue or green, 

 but C. martia has the abdomen crimson. This preponderance 

 of green and blue in American Chrysides is in accordance with 

 the not-rarely observed fact that where a genus is common to 

 Europe and America, the American forms are the oldest. But 

 in Caniharis, the common European species is green, while in 

 America we see crimson appearing on the elytra; the thorax, as 

 in Chrysis, remaining green. 



West Cliff, Custer Co., Col., Dec. 9, 1889. 



Notes on Butterflies found at Cape May, N. J., with 

 description of a new species of Pamphila. 



BY HENRY SKINNER, M. D. 



Pamphila Aaroni n. sp. — Antennae, head, thorax and abdo- 

 men very dark brown, almost black. Primaries above tawny with 

 blackish brown border about one-eighth inch in width. The base 

 of the wing is shaded a darker color by the same dusky scales. 

 The nerves of the primaries are not defined by the dark color as 

 in hobomok. The tawny middle area of the wings is darker and 

 more fiery than in the latter. The discal bar or dash is black and 

 very distinct and well defined, although quite small in most of the 

 specimens; running from this obliquely toward the body to the 

 interior margin is a broken, very faint line. Secondaries are a 

 practical reproduction of the primaries, the only difference being 

 that the dark border encircles the entire wing, but is narrower 

 on the anterior margin, and the neuration is well defined. 



Underside. — Extending from the thorax into the wing for about 

 one-eighth inch and covering only the lower half of the base is a 

 sharply defined black spot, which has a pointed projection ex- 

 tending into the third median interspace. The middle area of 

 the wing is tawny, but some shades lighter than the upperside. 

 The border is about the same width as above along the lower half 



