78 



I may now turn to the matcnul which I have collected on the Conti- 

 nent. With the exception of single specimens captured at Aix-les-Bains 

 (August 2oth) and Bourg St. Maurice (July 30th) in 1894, both males 

 of large size, those I exhibit to-night are 1895 captures. At Mendel, 

 where the general collecting was much too good to speci9.1ise, I got 

 a short series of a dozen specimens remarkable for their dark colour, 

 large size, and tendency to get rid of the fulvous bands by dividing 

 into sections, leaving fulvous rings with or without ocellated spots 

 in them. The only female I captured at Mendel is, however, 

 remarkably well ocellated. 



It was in the Val d'Ampezzo though, in the woods on both sides of 

 the valley below Cortina, that the insect was seen in the greatest 

 abundance. On the lower slopes of the Croda di Lago and of the 

 Sorapiss the insect was abundant, a small dark race, the male speci- 

 mens of which were of a most intense velvety black, with a tendency 

 to vary abnormally both in the size and number of the ocellated 

 spots and in the extent of the fulvous band. The females were on the 

 whole rather larger than the males, and were particularly well ocel- 

 lated, with a tendency in many specimens for the fulvous to become 

 distinctly orange ; this is particularly noticeable on the under-sides 

 of some specimens when compared with the Argyleshire series, 

 which they most resemble in size. 



We were evidently late for the species when we got to Bregenz, 

 but in the wood-clearings on the slopes of the Pfander the finest 

 race of this species that I have ever seen, occurred. The specimens 

 were exceedingly large and richly clad, the females marvellous in the 

 richness of their fulvous bands and the large size and abundance of 

 their ocellated spots, whilst a bright orange-banded specimen is 

 most striking. 



A very similar race occurred in the woods and on the roadside 

 between Alstatten and Gais, but these were a shade smaller and 

 evidently J^asse. I selected a few of the best we met with. 



A few specimens, captured by Dr. Chapman at Andermatt, of the 

 same large type completes my material. It will be seen that these 

 are as large, although not quite so strikingly spotted, as the Bregenz 

 specimens. 



With this long series of some 320 specimens before us, it may be 

 well for us to look a little more specially into the variation of this 

 species than the foregoing general remarks attempt to do. 



The ground-colour of the wing deserves perhaps the first con- 

 sidercftion. If you look closely at the males you will see that their 

 general colour is of a rich velvety black-brown, but that the peculiar 

 glossy appearance occupies only the base of the fore and hind wings 

 and ends some distance before the fulvous bands are reached. The 

 female on the other hand has none of this rich appearance, but its 

 ground-colour, in the darkest specimens, agrees rather with the outer 

 portion of the wing of the male. The velvety appearance of the 

 male is a distinct secondary sexual character, then, and is due to the 



