SEASONAL POLYMORPHISM. 181 



Obth. Another name which has often been misapplied is that of iiersea, 

 KolL, used foi' very small ochreous European specimens of (lidi/ma ; 

 persea is too definite a race, with many characters of its own, for 

 small size to be given primary importance; Persian specimens are often 

 comparatively large ; the European dwarfs expanding less than 30mm. 

 might be called pumila, if necessary. The names dalmatina, Stdgr., 

 and romana, Calb., are anything but synonyms of persea, as stated by 

 Staudinger, and should be used for the second generation of Southern 

 Europe, which differs most constantly and markedly from the first by 

 its small size and ochreous or yellowish fulvous colouring ; many 

 specimens are identical with Esper's didynui. The name meridionalis, 

 Stdgr., has until now been applied to all the didyiiia of Southern 

 Europe, as if they all were alike ; there exist on the contrary several 

 very distinct races. Staudinger's " types " were from the Parnassus 

 in Greece, but he also quotes Sicily as a locality ; this is quite correct, 

 for there exists there a small race quite different from the other Italian 

 ones, and answering his description perfectly ; the forewings and 

 sometimes the hindwings of the female are usually entirely of a 

 uniform grey or greenish -grey, light enough to show off the black 

 pattern, which is very limited in extent ; when the grey scaling is 

 absent, which occurs very rarely, the ground colour is. nearly 

 white ( J form albescens, Vrty.) In the Bull. Soc. Knt. ItaL, xlviii., p. 184 

 (1916), I ha-fe described the race of Central Italy from Tuscan series 

 and called it protea ; the races of southern France and Spain, except 

 the southern portion, where mauretanica occurs, seem similar 

 to it. It is very variable, but quite different from meridionalis by its 

 large size, bolder pattern, variable ground colour in females, which is 

 never of a uniform grey, etc. The original firaeca, Stdgr., was from 

 the valley of Karpanisi, but specimens with nearly as extensive a black 

 pattern in the males occur also amongst the Sicilian iiieridionalis, 

 showing the two races are closely connected ; they never occur in 

 protea or other races, though these are in some localities, on the whole, 

 darker than meridionalis. In the marshes of the mouth of the Arno I 

 have found a race with an extensive black pattern in both sexes and 

 the female as grey as alpina, standing to protea as graeca stands to 

 meridionalis ; I propose naming it palustris. There is also in Central 

 Italy a mountain race of the Apennines corresponding to alpina of the 

 Central European group of races ; melanism is never as marked as in 

 the latter, the ground colour in the female is never as white and the 

 underside-pattern is not much more extensive than in protea or 

 meridionalis ; the male too is quite of the southern form ; I call it 

 ixpenninigena from a series from Prato Fiorito, 1000 m. above Lucca. I 

 can only mention here the gigantic patycosana, Turati, of the Caiabrian 

 coast, and neeraeformis, Vrty., of the high altitudes of Aspromonte, 

 which alone in Italy and in the W. shows several oriental characters, 

 wings elongated, females of a whitish fulvous with black pattern not 

 extensive, underside-pattern on the contrary very bold and bright, as 

 in neera, F. d. W. 



The variations of didyma in Europe and Africa can be summarised 

 as follows in a .tabular form ; a few of the races of W. Asia more 

 closely connected with them are mentioned. It will be seen that 

 groups of races with characters in common correspond to- geographical 



