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VARIATION IN VANESSA URTIC.E, L. : SEASONAL 

 (CLIMATICAL) AND LOCAL VARIATION IN V. 

 URTIC/E AND IN V. 10, L., BY WHICH THE 

 TWO SPECIES SHOW A TENDENCY TO MEET 

 IN FACIES. 



By T. Reuss. 



12 3 4 



Variation in lVnies-s« urdcce, L. 



The above figures represent the marginal marlsings on the 

 hind wings of nine varieties — figs. 1-9 — of V. urticce, L., which 

 I reared this season from wild Hertfordshire larvae. Fig. 10 is 

 the hind wing of an aberration I bred on the 14th of August, 

 1906, from wild Continental larvae, and figured as ab. ioproto- 

 formis in the Ent, Rec. pi. vii. fig. 5, last April, without at the 

 time describing the specimen. 



All the marginal markings depicted are those of female 

 imagines, with two exceptions — figs. 1 and 9. The markings of 

 each specimen in figs. 1-7 were otherwise, as in typical vrticce, 

 and the ground colour exhibited its usual variability in different 

 shades of brownish, reddish, and yellowish orange. Figs. 8 and 

 9 are only slightly aberrative in other details, but in fig. 10 the 

 whole facies is changed. 



The width of these marginal markings, as I measured them 

 across the fourth median lunule in different specimens, varied 

 from 2'5 mm. in ab. injgmaa, Riihl, measuring 18 mm. along 

 costa of each fore wing, to a little over 4 mm. in a giant form 

 with the fore wings each measuring 28'5 mm. from base to tip. 

 In medium-sized specimens the margin seems to be most often 

 just under 4 mm. broad — almost as broad therefore as in the 

 largest forms. 



All the margins here figured vary only very slightly in width, 

 despite the differences not only in the shape and size of the 

 lunules, but also in the size- of the whole wings. In fig. 3 the 

 large lunules narrow the outer border (which together with the 

 costal lunules is typical in fig. 1), while in fig. 8 the border 

 is widened and disintegrated, the original brownish suffusion 

 becoming plainly visible, which (also in the other figures) links 



