CALIFORNIAN LEPIDOPTERA. 103 



ANEW SPECIES OF CALIFORNIAN LEPIDOPTERA. 



BY J. J. RIVERS. 



This insect is from the neighborhood of Truckee, a mount- 

 ainous district of California. It has been mistaken for a 

 variety of M. anicia DoubL , but as this has a black 

 ground color while M. anicia has a red one, they must belong 

 to different groups of the same genus. Mr. C. F. McGlashan 

 has for several years bred this insect in numbers and dis- 

 tributed it generously, therefore I have great pleasure in 

 dedicating the species to him. 



M. ChaJcedona Doubl. is the type around which numerous 

 forms congregate, some as mere varieties, while others, 

 though showing strongly their ancestry still exhibit suf- 

 ficient likeness to each other in the imago state, to puzzle 

 and peryjlex the student, and make it difficult to say whether 

 these various forms are simply variations or true species. 

 In the lyrval state, however, abundant difference is seen 

 which easily points out the genuine species. Dr. H. Behr in 

 his description and remarks upon 31. Cooperi, Proceed. Cal. 

 Acad. Sci., Vol. 3, p. 90, 1863, says: "With all the well 

 marked differences, the species look so much alike, that it 

 would have been a long time before 31. Cooperi would have 

 been recognized as a distinct species, if it had not been for 

 the striking difference of its caterpillar." 



MELIT^A Fabr. 



M. Macglashanii sp.nov. General appearance like M. C'halcedona, but 

 still more like M. Cooperi Behr. Outer margins of upper wings rounding in 

 both sexes. The general disposition of the spots forming the bands being 

 equidistant, gives to the whole surface a more checkered appearance than 

 is seen either in M. Chalcedon or M. Cooperi. Expanse of wing of the largest 

 9 specimen 2^^ inches; in the largest 9 specimen of M. Chalcedon 2% 

 inches. 7'he mirginal hand of red spots to all the wings always present. 



Male. — Upper side blackish; outer margins of all the wings with reddish 

 spots, a character more constant in this species than is found in either 

 Cooperi or (Jhalcedon. The next two rows are pale straw or even white, and 

 the spots are inclined to be quadrate; the usual bifid band has the third 



2d Seb. Vol. I. Issued June 6, 1888. 



