107 



first of the series being ver}- small ; above the lunules the 

 internervular spaces are clouded \\ith gre}ish white; the outer 

 marginal area is limited by an irregular greyish-white line. 

 On the outer marginal area of the hind-wings, limited by a 

 gre3'ish-white serrated line, there are four orange lunules, as 

 on fore-wings, and a series of black dots ; the latter are 

 almost entirely encircled with gre}ish white. 



Strikingly in contrast with No. 8 is No. 3. This specimen 

 is almost black in appearance; the basal half of each wing 

 is thickl}' sprinkled with deep-blue scales, and there are 

 a few orange outer marginal lunules ; the black marginal 

 spots are large, and are encircled with blue, except those 

 under the orange lunules. No. 2 is, in a wa}-, somewhat 

 similar to No. 3, but here the blue colour on the fore-wings 

 is continued along the nervules, and so cuts up the blackish 

 ground-colour into wedge-shaped patches. In the almost 

 wholly blue-coloured specimen — No. 7 — there are blackish, 

 cuneiform patches between the nervules on the hind-wings, 

 and on the fore-wings the black edges of the rather obscure 

 orange marks are slightly produced inwards, and therefore 

 wedge-like in shape. 



The other specimens have each some aberrant character 

 in colour, or marking, or both, individualizing it from others 

 in the series, but these do not admit of brief description. 



Ltipcrina testacca, Hiibn., and nickcvlii, Freyer (1848) : A 

 male specimen of nickcvlii, obtained through Messrs. W'atkins 

 and Doncaster. This, together with another male and 

 a female sent to Mr. Pierce, were from an old collection in 

 \Tenna, and were taken by Herr Nickerl, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Prague, about fifty years ago. A female specimen 

 received from Hermann Rolle, of Berlin : This example, and 

 also a male sent with it, but now with Mr. Pierce, are from 

 Bohemia, but are paler in colour than the Prague specimens. 

 Mr. Pierce, having made careful preparations of the genitalia, 

 finds that nickcvlii differs very little from testacca, but he is of 

 opinion that for the present " we must continue to treat L. 

 nickcvlii as a separate species." The late Dr. Staudinger always 

 regarded nickerlii as a Darwinian species — -that is, he was not 

 quite sure whether it was really distinct or only a local or 

 isolated form of some other species — -in this case of L. testacca. 



Mclitcca auvinia : Selected series from Ireland, Cumberland, 

 S. Wales, and S. Devon. Although each of the four series 

 shows its own peculiar range of variation, one or more 

 specimens comprised therein incline to the characters of 

 avtcmis. as figured bv Hiibner. 



