A CATALOGUK OF THE LEPIDOPTERA OF IRELAND. 243 



and other parts of Galway, as well as in some central and 

 southern localities. The figure 11 of Mr. South' s plate II. is not 

 of so vivid a tint as some specimens I have taken of this beautiful 

 variety. The Scotch form (fig, 6), with violet dusting on the basal 

 areas, also frequently occurs ; and modifications of it, in which 

 the discoidal spots of the under side are indicated on each wing 

 by pale markings, and the comet-like streak similarly and more 

 distinctly. Some specimens, with dark brown ground shot with 

 violet, have the orange peacock-eye marks of hind wing bordered 

 interiorly by a looped edging of pale bluish grey (a trait just 

 suggested in fig. 9), and pale markings on costal apex of fore 

 wing. The form with the hind margins broadly shaded, and the 

 costa (fig. 9), is not unfrequently met with in Ireland, but of a 

 larger size and more brilliant colour. This would appear to be 

 the var. ccsrulea, Gar. I have met with a large brown female 

 form in Galway without trace of blue, and with the orange ocelli 

 very large. The under side of females varies in the relative 

 strength of the warm brown ground tint, often being of a dark 

 bistre on the central area of hind wing. I know of no distinctively 

 Irish characters displayed. Taking a general view of the fore- 

 going, we note, firstly, that the Scotch and Irish races are 

 unusually large (Mr. Jenner Weir notes the Orkney insect being 

 "unexpectedly large," 1 inch 5 lines — Ent. xiv. 3), that they 

 vary in parallel directions from the English type, and present 

 as numerous genetic characters linking them to other species as 

 do the latter ; and in the female sex have acquired generally a 

 very remarkable one in addition, an instance of gynandro- 

 chromism. It may be that the acquisition of more brilliant 

 colours in the female may be of advantage under less sunny 

 skies, where the sun-loving Ehopalocera have less opportunities 

 of selecting their mates, and cannot afford to indulge in long 

 engagements. L. icarus is universally distributed throughout 

 Ireland, but in greater abundance along the coast, and in such 

 localities as possess wide areas of unfilled coarse pasture lands. 

 In the rich grazing counties, and such as are chiefly devoted to 

 tillage, the species becomes less numerous and more localised, 

 and haunts railway banks, &c. I have not heard that this Irish 

 variety of the female has been recorded as a local form from the 

 Continent ; and as it is an important parallel variation to that 

 of L. hellargus and var. syngrapha of L. corydon, think it may 

 receive the varietal name of mariscolore. 



Lyc^na aegiolus, L. — Locally abundant in woodlands where 

 holly is abundant, but not occurring, so far as I have noticed, in 

 unsheltered districts with holly bushes. I have not seen the 

 second brood in Ireland, but it probably may be met with in the 

 south, as I have taken this butterfly at Killarney as early as the 

 third week of April, and in Wicklow at Powerscourt on the 3rd 

 of May ; but in Ulster usually from the middle of May to begin- 



