THE ATHALIA GROUP OF THE GENUS MELIT^A. 151 



legist's Eecord', vol. xv. p. 313. The original specimens from 

 which Eiihl's description was made came from Frankfort-on- 

 Maine ; it is also reported by Rondou from the Pyrenees, but 

 he makes no mention of the underside. His description is as 

 follows : " Fond des superieures d'un rouge vif, sans la rang6e 

 mediane de taches noires ; bord externe largement noir ; inf^ri- 

 eures d'un noir a peu pres uniforme sauf la bande marginale."* 

 This it will be seen hardly corresponds to Riihl's description, 

 except with regard to the up. s. h. w., and it may well be doubted 

 whether the form is really the same. 



Var. beata is described by Caradja, ' Iris ' vol. vi., p. 181 

 (1894), as follows: "In den Thalern der Pyrenaen bei Luchon, 

 Sost, St. Beat, fliegtj;arf/ienie in einer sehr grossen, meist hellen 

 Form, meine Stiicke von dort messen im Durehschnitt 39 mm. 

 (das grosste ? fast 41 mm.). Vielllicht verdient diese grosse lichte 

 Lokalform mit einem Namen bezeichnet zu werden, als welche 

 ich var. beata vorschlage."t Specimens in the British Museum 

 collection from Vernet seem to be Caradja's beata, but there are 

 others from Central France belonging to Sand's collection 

 and very erroneously marked ' aurelia,' which correspond 

 completely with the above description. 



[The name polynome is attached to certain specimens of 

 pai'thenie in Schaufuss's collection which come from south- 

 western Europe. This name I have traced to Schneider (' Sys- 

 tematishe Beschreibung,' p. 213), who refers it to Fillers und 

 Mitterbacliers 'Eeisen', pi. v. figs. 1, 2 ; this figure purports to be 

 maturna which it certainly is not ; so far as I can judge I should 

 imagine it to have been taken from a specimen of phoebe with 

 unicolorous ground, such as are found on the south side of the 

 Alps, e.g. at Iselle or at Reazzino. It is certainly not parthenie.] 



Varia, having been generally regarded as a variety of 

 parthenie, has not directly given rise to any named forms. It 

 seems, however, probable that Aurivillius' var. norvegica, 

 * Nordens Fjiirilar,' p. 29 (1888), which is of course given by him 

 as a variety of athalia, since he disregards all these specific 

 differences, and which is referred by Staudinger to aurelia, 

 should really be referred here ; it is called varia by Lampa 

 ( * Tidskrift,' vi. p. 18, 1889), and it is erroneously suggested in 

 the * Entomologist's Record,' vol. xiii. p. 346, that on grounds of 

 priority Lampa's name should stand, but the priority is with 

 Aurivillius' name. If, however, I am right in my opinion that 



■''- Ground colour of the f. w. of a bright red, the central row of black 

 spots wanting, outer border broadly black ; h. w. of an almost uniform black 

 except the marginal band. 



f In the valleys of the Pyrenees at Luchon, Sost, St. Beat, parthenie 

 flies in a very large, mostly light form ; my specimens from this locality 

 measure 39 mm. across ; the largest female almost 41 mm. Perhaps this 

 large light local race ought to be distinguished by a name, for which I 

 propose var. beata. 



