266 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



The only distinctions afforded by i and ii are that in varia 

 and aurelia the former springs in a more upright position from 

 the latter, and that in asteria ii is further from i and nearer to 

 iii towards the base than in any other species. 



The nervures of the hind wing which show most variety 

 are iii^ and iiig, but, on the other hand, they vary some- 

 what in the same species. In varia the stem appears to be- 

 long to iiij rather than to ii, as it really does, and to some 

 extent this is also the case with dictynnoides, though in this 

 species the formation tends towards that of aurelia {v. infra) ; it 

 seems to belong equally to ii and to iiij in aurelia, berisalensis, 

 and britomartis, and equally to ii and iii^ in deione, parthenie, 

 athalia, and generally in dictynna ; only in asteria does it 

 obviously belong to ii. In aurelia nearly always, and sometimes 

 in parthenie and athalia, ii, iii^, and iii2 branch off from the 

 same spot ; in asteria there is a short transverse nervule placed 

 slantwise between ii and iii^, and a shorter and more per- 

 pendicular one joining iii^ and iii 2, though the latter is some- 

 times absent, iiii and iii^ forking out from one another as they 

 do in athalia, parthenie, deione, generally in varia, and sometimes 

 in dictynna. In all these latter, and in britomartis, and occa- 

 sionally also in aurelia, there is a transverse nervule of varying 

 length, joining ii and iii^ ; varia sometimes has iiii and iii 2 

 joined by a short, nearly perpendicular nervule, as in asteria, 

 these two nervures being occasionally joined by a short, curved 

 nervule in dictynna, and nearly always in britomartis. 



Traces of the closing of the cell in the hind wing are to be 

 found, in this group, in asteria, varia, dictynnoides, and more 

 slightly in aurelia ; this is always represented by a short spur 

 rising from iiig near its point of departure from ivj (represented 

 in the diagram, though it never occurs in berisalensis) ; and 

 sometimes in dictynnoides, and generally in vaiia (as in some 

 species of the other groups) there is a corresponding spur 

 issuing downwards from iii 2 ; in one specimen of varia ? I have 

 found these two spurs uniting so as to close the cell completely, 

 as in the Argynnids and Brenthids ;* on the other hand, I have 

 found one varia <y devoid of either spur. 



In deione, iiig branches off slightly nearer to the outer margin 

 than in other species. In varia, iv^ and iv2 are parallel, and 

 almost so in asteria, deione, berisalensis, and athalia, but diverge 

 more in the other species, though the difference is not very 

 noticeable. 



Nervure a. is decidedly convex in parthenie, slightly so in 

 athalia and dictynnoides, slightly angulated (in a convex direc- 

 tion) near its inception in aurelia, varia, and dictynna, straight 



* Notwithstanding Spuler's diagrams to the contrary, I have never so 

 far found a Brenthid with the cell open. In selene, which he gives as an 

 example with open cell, I have invariably found it closed. 



