2'.)i MR. A. O. BUTLEll OV A NEW FOSSI MOTH. [May 21, 



Thaites a))pear to me to be somewhat doubtful, Mr. Scudder'8 figure, 

 if a facsimile of the original, might with less ingenuity be modified 

 into a form of Casfnia than into a Parnassius or Thais. 



As it is |)robable that tlie colouring of flowers began to develop 

 ]irior to that of the insects which frequented tliem, it seems not un- 

 likely tliat the appreciation of colour shown by Lepidoptera was 

 gained by associating certiiin tints with their favourite flowers, and 

 once acquired liecame unconsciously a consideration in tiie selection 

 of mates : thus we find that in the Arctic regions, where bright 

 flowers do not fdrni a feature of tlie landscape, the Lepidoptera are 

 dull-coloured, tlieir sense of colour being naturally dormant'. 



LiTHOPSYCHE, gen. nov. 



Nearest to Calospila and Cruspedosis ; resembling Craspedosis 

 extenuata of 'I'imor most nearly iu the size and tbrm of the |)ri- 

 maries, and Euschenia minervuria of Burma in the form of all the 

 wings, thougii difl'ermg much in colouring; but in the pattern of 

 these wings much more like tlie less nearly related Preesos mariana ; 

 venation, so far as it can be followed, closely resembling that of 

 Calospila leucomela ; the secondaries differing in form, the abdo- 

 minal margin being longer, as in the mah s of Euschema proba and 

 other allied greyish-blue species ; the abdomen extends to about 

 four fifths of the length of the secondaries and terminates in a small 

 tuit-like fringe as in females of Euschema ; the thorax is represented 

 by a deep impression showing the divisions distinctly. 



LiTHOPSYCHE ANTiauA, sp. u. (Plate XXXI. figs. 3, 6.) 



Apparently originally black and white, the black having changed 

 to a biown-umber, as in a faded examjtle of Calospila picaria in the 

 Museum; primaries with a white spot in the cell as in Bracca 

 bujularia (Plate XXXI. fig. 1) ; a macular white oblique band just 

 beyond the middle, probably represented by the abbreviated band of 

 Calospila posthumaria, the less oblique and complete baud of 

 Crasjtedosis ernestina, and the broader antemedian band of Prasos ; 

 three spots placed obliquely about halfway between this band aud 

 the apex and two nearer to the outer margin on the median inter- 

 spaces, as in Pi-tesos mariana (Plate XXXI. tig. 4), also a bifid spot 

 still nearer to the outer margin on the interno-mediau interspace ; 

 the secondaries, which are for the greater part concealed by the 

 primaries, show the lower portion of a narrow wliite postmediau 

 band, sinuated iuternally and possibly macular as in Calospila post- 

 humaria. 



Gurnet Bay, Isle of Wight {Mr. E. J. A' Court Smith). 



The type specimen is in the Geological collection of tlie Natural 

 History Museum. 



Of the genera immediately allied to Lithopsyche, the Museum 

 collection conlains examples of the following species '■ — 



' I do not mean to say tliat there are no bright-colourerl Arctic (lowers ; but 

 tlicy are not sucli us, from their size and abundaiifp, would urrcst the attenliou 

 of anv but a trained mind. 



