SCIEXCE-GOSSIP. 



alia). It much resembles the ab. cltloe of 

 C. aurora, but differs in the following particulars : 

 the marginal borders are not so deeply black ; the 

 neuration is of the same colour as the wings, which 

 are of greenish-white. The bases are not so deeply 

 shaded, and the discoidal spot of h.w. is very dis- 

 tinctly orange. The orange form (forma auran- 

 fi.aca) greatly resembles C. aurora 9 , but differs in 

 having less basal shading and in the colour of the 

 neuration ; also in the intensity of the disc, spot 

 h.w. U.S. disc, spot f .w. without any silvery centre. 

 A submarginal row of widely separated black spots 

 on all the wings. 



Hab. Daghestan, Transcaucasia. Y.-Y1I. 



9. C. myrmidone Esp. 65. 1,2: Lg. B. E. 

 p. 59, pL xiii. fig. 1. 



42 — 50 mm. 



Wings orange-yellow, deeper than in Colia* edum. 

 but not so intense as in C. aurora and C. olga,. £ 

 has the marginal border of f. and h.w. much 

 narrower than in C. edum.. It very rarely shows 

 any pale rays, but is finely dusted with light 

 yellow scales. H.w. have a row of indistinct light 

 blotches immediately internal to the narrow mar- 

 ginal border. 9 greatly resembles C. edusa \ . 

 but the marginal spots are larger, better defined, 

 and more regular ; they contrast more with the 

 ground colour of the wings, which is redder than 

 in C. edum. and are more greenish in tint. 



Hab. Eastern, Southern, and Central Germany : 

 Austria. Hungary, Xorth Turkey, South-Western 

 Russia. Asia Minor, Caucasus. Altai. VII. — VIII. 



Larva. Green, with a darker dorsal stripe and 

 lateral green streaks of a lighter colour. The 

 surface is covered with short black hairs growing 

 from minute tubercular elevations. On Cyti&us 

 biflorux and other Leguminosae. IX. and V. 



a. ab. 2 alia Stgr. Cat. 1871. p. 6. The white 

 form of 2 . Very much rarer in proportion to the 

 orange form than ab. helice of Colia* edusa. 



b. var. caucasica Stgr. Cat. 1^71. p. 6. myrmi- 

 done var. Ld. Ann. S. Belg. xii. 20. " major, satu- 

 ratius flav." Stgr. Some entomologists have thought 

 that the species now understood as C. olga Romanoff 

 is identical with this form. 



It is probable that many specimens of C. my r un- 

 done were formerly confounded with it. Until the 

 closing years of the nineteenth century the genus 

 Colia* was much less perfectly understood than at 

 the present day. Even in Staudinger's Catalogue of 

 1871 there is much evidence of imperfect know- 

 ledge and confusion of forms. 



There is no doubt, however, that C. myrm idone 

 does present a form in Armenia and also in the 

 Ural Mountains which is larger and more intensely 

 orange-yellow than the type. A specimen in my 

 collection, marked •• Ural," obtained through Mr. 

 Elwes, has a very large disc, spot on f.w. : the 

 marginal band on h.w. is much more sinuous than 

 normal, and so indeed is the outline of wing itself 



along its ou. marg. The expanse is greater than 

 in the type : but. in spite of these characters, it is 

 easily distinguishable from C. olga. 



We now come to the end of that group of Colias, 

 the species of which possess the character of the 

 peculiar sex mark of a costal patch of thickened 

 scales on the h.w. of the $. Setting asid'- 

 C miskotti, an altogether abnormal species — some 

 of the forms of which, though now considered as 

 varieties, will probably be eventually accepted as 

 specific — we may take C. edum and C. myrmidone 

 as the types of the group, all the other species 

 being more or less closely connected with either 

 one or the other. It will be noticed that the form- 

 increase in size and intensity of colour as we 

 proceed in an easterly and south-easterly geo- 

 graphical direction of the Palaearctic region. In 

 C. aurorina. C. aurora, and C. olga. we have probably 

 the highest developments of what is represented 

 the two well-known European species above 

 mentioned. 



{To be continued.) 



REPTILES IX WINTER 



By Gerald Leightox. M.B. 



T - " HE ardent field naturalist whose affections 

 -*- are specially developed in the direction of 

 reptiles is apt to find the winter months of a 

 climate such as ours rather long and tedious. It 

 seems so tiresome to wait until the spring to settle 

 a point in which one had just become interested 

 when the reptiles inconsiderately retired for the 

 winter. After all, however, the winter months 

 ought not to be wasted by any observant field 

 naturalist, though they may seem out of pro- 

 portion to the length of time allowed by summer 

 weather for more practical work out of doors. If 

 one has worked hard and been fairly successful, 

 there ought to be a considerable mass of more or 

 less illegible writing in the pocket notebook 

 carried by every observer who wishes to make 

 use of what comes under his own notice ; 

 and all this material has to be written. 

 - ; :iied. systematised and corrected, either 

 as a matter of accuracy, or for the use of 

 others. Then, if one has a reptilian collection of 

 one's own, there are probably a few specimens to 

 be re-labelled, re-measured, or more carefully pre- 

 served, and their detailed descriptions recorded in 

 a club •• Transactions " or one's own catalogue. Most 

 important of all perhaps, for no lover of animals 

 cares to spend much time indoors in the summer, 

 is the correspondence with fellow-observers in 

 other localities, for which the winter months leave 

 time. It is also a good plan to form some 

 definite ideas for the next season's investigations ; 

 what to look for and where to go, and to make 

 arrangements accordingly. Apart altogether from 



