Me 
1872.) 183 
Legs fawn coloured, under-surface of thorax woolly in appearance, and of a pale 
ochreous colour. Tongue reddish-brown, split up for half its length into six, in the 
specimen before me. Eyes dull black. 
Female similar, but broader in the fore-wings, which are also more Vertical at 
the apical margin ; the antenne are longer and the tip of the palpi more naked. 
The great character of helvetina would seem to be the absence of any 
character ; but the peculiar silky lustre is very striking. 
Helvetina is a rare species abroad. It has occurred in Germany, France, 
Switzerland, Piedmont. 
The larva is unknown.—H. Guarp Knaaes, Kentish Town, December Ist, 1871. 
Note on Argynnis Niobe and A. Adippe.—I am rather surprised that Mr. Butler 
should suppose that the capture of Argynnis Niobe and A. Adippe in coitd is a 
proof of their being varieties of one species. I have seen Smerinthus populi and 
Sphinx ligustri in the same situation; and I think no one will deny that these 
are specifically distinct. 
Although I rather doubt the possibility of distinguishing Niobe and Adippe on 
the wing, yet if they do chase each other it proves nothing. Every collector must 
have frequently seen males of Gonepteryx rhamni chasing females of Pieris brassice, 
and males of this species chasing female rhamni, I have often seen males of 
A. cardamines chasing specimens of Pieris napt. 
I believe Niobe and Adippe are as distinct as any two species of the genus 
Argynnis. Dr. Staudinger, who is certainly rather too much inclined to sink real 
species to the rank of varieties, gives them as distinct without any mark of doubt 
in the new edition of his valuable catalogue of Huropean Lepidoptera. 
The female Niobe is very different, both in colour and form, from the same sex 
of Adippe, and closely resembles the female Aglaia on the upper surface; the 
variations of the two species are also very different.—HEnry DouBLEDAyY, Epping, 
December 18th, 1871. 
Description of the larva of Ephyra punctaria.—On the 28th of August last, I 
received from the Rev. H. N. Bloomfield, of Guestling, near Hastings, a few eggs 
of this species. They hatched in a few days, and the young larvz were pale 
greyish-green, rather broadly transversly barred with brown. At the end of 
September they were full-fed, and may be described as follows. 
Length about an inch, and of moderate thickness in proportion. Head very 
slightly wider than the second, but not wider than the third, segment (until full-fed 
it is cousiderably wider than the second) ; it is very finely notched on the crown, 
the cheeks are globular, and the face flat. Body cylindrical and of nearly uniform 
width throughout, the second segment being the narrowest, and the twelfth 
slightly the widest. 
In my brood were two distinct varieties, the more numerous of which I will 
describe as Var. 1. Ground colour pinkish-brown; head chocolate-brown, 
variegated with grey. A narrow, but distinct pale grey line, edged on each side 
with a smoky-black line of equal width, forms the medio-dorsal line ; an exceedingly 
fine and almost imperceptible waved grey thread forms the sub-dorsal lines; and 
there is a similar line above the spiracles. On each side, and on each segment, com- 
mencing on the spiracular region, is a dark smoky mark, extending obliquely upwards 
