194 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



nowhere in Italy is it known to predominate as in certain Spanish 

 localities. Females such as those figured by Oberthiir are not 

 .unfrequent even in the lowlands, but males well characterised are rare 

 in Italy, and are only found at high altitudes and in cold, dry localities ; 

 it stands directly opposite to maxima. Turati. In southern Italy and 

 in Sicily tenuis is found in the plain, but temdcula is no more found 

 in the mountains. On the Aspromonte, at 1200m., a race exists even 

 larger than tennis, of a deep reddish tinge, with widespread black 

 pattern, so much so that in the female there often exists an extensive 

 black suffusion at the base of the wings (race obscura, mihi). 

 Oberthiir describes from the Madonie Mts. in Sicily a race with an 

 extremely pale female, covered by such an abundant suffusion of 

 greenish black as to make it look like the mountain parthenie; it has 

 been named sicida, Turati, Att. Soc. Ital. Sci. Nat., vol. liii., p. 600 

 (1914). 



I must lay stress on the fact that the melanotic aberration of 

 athalia, always called navarina^ Selys (1837), should be called 

 cyniotho'e, Bertoloni [Annali di Storia Naturale di Bologna, II., pp. 

 237-40 (1829)] , having been described several years before by this 

 Italian entomologist from a specimen of the Promontorio Lunese, 

 south of the Gulf of Spezia. The " t_ype " is now in my possession. 



To the distinctive characters between athalia and farthenie 

 mentioned by Wheeler in Tlie EntomologiU for 3 908, I must add that 

 of the colour of the anal portion (near the hindmargin) of the hind- 

 wing, Avhich in the former is usually partly fulvous and which is 

 always entirely black in the latter. In Central Italy this character is 

 absolutely constant, making it quite easy to separate teniiicida from 

 parthenie race rarissima, Vrty., with which it flies in the Sibillini Mts.; 

 in other races I find exceptions. Amongst hundreds of specimens 

 examined from that locality I find two males (N. 498 and 499) and a 

 female (N. 560), which actually seem to be hybrids between those two 

 species, although I am very sceptical about hybrids generally; anyhow 

 I should call these intermediate looking forms parihenides and 

 ATHALmEs ; the first is on the whole more similar to athalia, but it has 

 the black pattern of the underside of the forewings quite obliterated, 

 as in parthenie', the second comes nearest the latter species, but has 

 this pattern well developed, .as in athalia, and the anal portion of 

 hindwings above entirely light fulvous. 



Brenthis dia, L., race laetior, mihi, and second and third gen. 

 FLAVENs, mihi. If the Central European race be taken as nymotypical, 

 although Linneus's habitat " Austria " is rather vague, it is seen that 

 the first brood of Central Italy differs from it by its slightly larger 

 size, by its brighter colouring, and by the lesser extent of the black 

 pattern. The two summer broods have quite a different look : above 

 -the ground-colour is of a yellowish fulvous, much less bright ; the 

 black pattern very reduced ; the cubital zone of the hindwings is 

 always entirely fulvous, instead of being covered by a black suffusion ; 

 on the underside the purple colouring is reduced in extent and broken 

 up by broad yellowish spaces and is often replaced by a reddish fulvous ; 

 this form comes nearest to leonina, Frhst., and to diniensis, Obth., but 

 it is smaller and frailer ; I take as typical the third brood of Florence. 



