11 4- Psyche ' [October 



carnelian red as in typical atalanta and the costo-apical or sub- 

 apical white patch of atalanta is a salmon-buff in this variety. There 

 are four white apical spots. The outer margin of the hindwings are 

 of an apricot-orange; the basal portion of the primaries and second- 

 aries is of a bordeaux red (rusty red) instead of a deep purplish 

 black as in atalanta. There is a submarginal row of black spots on- 

 the hindwnngs in the same position as those of carye. The under- 

 side more nearly resembles atalanta. In its characters this varia- 

 tion partakes of the aspects of both carye and atalanta. Henry 

 Edwards (3) records a specimen of what he speaks of as a hybrid 

 between carye and atalanta. The description of his specimen re- 

 sembles mine very closely. The submarginal row of spots had 

 white pupils while mine has none, except a very faint trace in two 

 of them. Henry Edwards' specimen was. raised by Dr. Behr from 

 the larva from Lagunitas, Marin Co., July 1876; while Mr. Cottle's 

 specimen was caught flying at Buchanan and Washington Streets, 

 San Francisco, in August 1914. So there is quite a time interval 

 in the capture of these two similar variations, but in a short distance 

 geographically. This is a very interesting variation, which we are 

 hardly justified in calling a hybrid, and undoubtedly has some evo- 

 lutionary significance. 



As an excuse or an explanation for naming these new variations 

 it is well to say that it is particularly useful to know as much about 

 the variations of a species as possible, especially now, when so 

 much is being said of the order of evolution; whether it is indis- 

 criminate or directed or whether it may follow both paths. It is 

 only by the accumulation of definite data concerning variations 

 that we can arrive at a correct idea of the order of evolution in a 

 given species. It is the method we want to know, and there is no 

 more intricate problem confronting us. 



References. 



1. Essig, E. 0. The Genus Vanessa in California. Pomona 

 Journal Entom. and Zool., VIII, 3, Sept. 1916, pp. 97-108, fig. 

 1-11. 



2. Wright, W. G. The Butterflies of the West Coast, 1905, pp. 

 177-178, pi. XXII. 



3. Edivards, Henry. Proc. California Acad. Sci. (Pacific Coast 

 Lepidoptera), Vol. 7, 1877, pp. 171-172. 



