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THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



et lib. cit. 1871, p. 444 ; Brischke, Schr. Nat. ges. Danz. 1880, 

 p. 113 ; Rogers at Meeting Ent. Soc, 2nd April, 1866, et Johnson, 

 E.M.M., 1907, p. 160).— Claude Morley.j 



THE ATHALIA GEOUP OF THE GENUS MELITMA. 

 By George Wheeler, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Continued from p. 32.) 



There is one more named form belonging to the navarina 

 group, which was originally supposed by de Selys-Longchamps 

 to be asteria, and so named by him, doubtfully, in his * Enum- 

 eration des Insectes L^pidopteres de la Belgique,' in 1845. In 

 1857, however, it was given as an aberration of athalia (' Annales 

 de la Societe Entomologique Beige, vol. i. p. 19) under the name 

 of asteriades, de Selys-Longchamps, and is briefly described as 

 " tres petit et tres noir." 



With regard to the greater variety of colouring on the upper 

 side, in which some specimens, especially females, approach 

 nearer to the ^wmm-group, there seems to be only one named 

 form in which this peculiarity is prominent, and even in this 

 case the insect seems to be named rather after a peculiarity of 

 the un. s. h. w. than from anything in the appearance of the 

 up. s., viz.: leiLcippe, Schneider, * Systematische Beschreibung,' 

 p. 209 (1787). This form was described as a distinct species, 

 in the following terms : ** Alis dentatis, supra fuscis, primoribus 

 ad marginem luteis striis duabus venisque nigris ; posterioribus 

 serie triplici macularum pallidiorum et subtus fasciis fulvis 

 flavis et albis." Pieference is made to Esper's * Schmetterlinge 

 Europas,' pi. xxx., fig. 2, which, in spite of what Schneider says 

 to the contrary, shows it to be a female aberration of athalia, 

 with suffusion extending over the basal half of each wing, and 

 having the lunules on the up. s. h. w. lighter, and the ground 

 colour between the outer and inner lines redder than usual ; 

 the very narrow streak of ground colour showing within the 

 inner line is of normal colour. The un. s. f. w. has in places 

 a redder shade than usual, and the elbowed line is clearly 

 marked by large black spots throughout. The h. w. has the 

 terminal lunules, the outer half of the central band, the light 

 spot, and part of the basal band white ; hence, it would seem, 

 the name. Schneider regards this form as being included in 

 Linnaeus' matiirna, showing that the variation of colour on the 

 upper side was in his eyes very noticeable. Seba's illustration 

 (' Thesaurus,' pi. iii. A., figs. 1-4), to which he refers, appears 

 to me, so far as it is possible to judge, to represent athalia. To 

 Petiver's * Icones Papilionum Britannise,' I have unfortunately 

 been unable to refer, as there is no copy of this work in the 

 British Museum, nor in any of the other great London libraries. 



