97 



EEMARKS ON VARIATION IN VANESSA ATALANTA AND 



V. CARDUI. 



By Richard South. 





Vanessa atalanta, ab. 



In the above exceedingly interesting aberration of Vanessa 

 atalanta the scarlet band of fore wings does not extend bejond 

 the subcostal nervure, and terminates, apparentl}^, on the first 

 median nervule ; the continuation, however, of this band is 

 represented by a small scarlet dash placed on the internal edge 

 of a white spot in the submedian interspace ; there is a rather 

 large white spot on the scarlet band in the first median inter- 

 space, and two elongate white patches immediately above it; the 

 abbreviated white band from costa, so conspicuous in typical 

 atalanta, is completely eliminated. The black spots in the 

 scarlet border of hind wings are entirely absent on the left wing, 

 and only faintly indicated on the right wing. On the under 

 surface of the fore wings the scarlet band is broader, but does 

 not extend further in either direction than above; the white spot 

 in first median interspace is placed on the inner edge of a difi'use 

 pale grey patch, and there is a similar patch below it. The hind 

 wings are less finely mottled than in the type ; the whitish blotch 

 on costa is represented by a C-like mark ; the subanal ocellus is 

 distinct, and the marginal line is rather broad, interrupted by the 

 nei'vules, and very black. 



Mr. E. Howis Marston, who has most obligingly entrusted me 

 with the specimen to figure, informs me that it was taken in 

 Jersey last August by Mr. H. Burg, a member of the Oxenford 

 House School at St. Lawrence, in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the school. He adds that Vanessa atalanta was abundant, and 

 the specimens very fine, in Jersey last year. 



A somewhat similar aberration of this species is figured in the 

 'Entomologist' for 1878 (xi. pi. II.), but that specimen, which 

 was bred in 1867 by Mr. W. Smith, of Birmingham, from a larva 

 found at Ashton, differs from the present one in having the 

 scarlet band of the fore wings suffused with yellowish, and a 



d2 



