Oi3SERVAT10NS ON VANESSA C-ALBUM. 339 



follows : " This species exhibits seasonal dimorphism, the vernal 

 form having the under side light brown, almost as pale as Vanessa 

 egea, while the sestival form is richly variegated on the under side 

 of the male, and very dark brown in the female." In the work 

 in question, upon plate xxxix. are given two good figures of the 

 under sides of the males of the " spring and summer broods," 

 showing the difference in the colouring. 



Now, in the preceding accounts it will be observed that great 

 diversity of opinion prevails upon many important details ; but, 

 first of all, lest it may lead to a little confusion, it may be well to 

 point out that what is meant for the sestival or summer emergence 

 is often expressed as the vernal or spring brood, while the 

 autumnal emergence is sometimes erroneously denominated the 

 sestival brood. The terms summer and autumn should un- 

 doubtedly be employed (in the case of this butterfly) in preference 

 to those of spring and summer, whenever the first and second 

 emergences are expressed in that manner, as nothing but hyber- 

 nated specimens are ever to be met with in the vernal months, 

 the first brood appearing, according to my own observations, 

 never before the middle of June, while the second one always 

 occurs in the months of September and October ; at least this is 

 the case in the midlands. Well, as far as my experience goes, 

 the types of the first and second broods occurring in this country 

 do not exhibit any appreciable difference, either in the shape of 

 the wings or in the colour of the upper or under sides. The only 

 feature worth noticing is that the ground colour of the upper 

 surface of the wings of the first brood is of a slightly lighter hue 

 than that of the second emergence ; it is thus somewhat interme- 

 diate in this respect between the type of the autumnal brood and 

 the form about to be dealt with, namely, the " depletion " variety 

 of Newman. This latter is a very distinctive one, and occurs 

 only with the summer or first brood. It is of a very pale colour 

 on the upper surface of the wings, the under sides also being 

 fulvous yellow. This form is very faithfully depicted in Dr. Lang's 

 work previously referred to, and is inferred by that author to be 

 the type of the first generation on the Continent. My own 

 experiences of collecting on the other side of the English Channel 

 have, hitherto, been too limited to permit of my arriving at any 

 conclusion, either in confirmation or otherwise, of what that 

 author states to be the case in the larger area.* I should think, 

 however, it was highly probable that the fulvous form was the 

 type of the first brood in Southern and Central Europe oni}', and 

 that the one occurring as the types of the first and second broods 

 in this country as the typical form of the same brood found in the 

 more northern parts of its area of distribution, that is in similar 

 latitudes to our own. The fulvous form I therefore consider 



* I have taken this fulvous form in Switzerland in July and August, but 

 none of the other form with which it occurs as the type of the first brood in 

 England. 



