SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



13 



BUTTERFLIES OF THE PALAEARCTIC REOflON. 



By Henry Charles Lang, M.D., M.E.C.S., L.R.C.P. Lond., F.E.S. 



(Continued from Vol. VII., p. 362.) 



Genus COLZAS (continued). 



18. C. lada Gr.-Gr. 

 40—50 mm. 



c? very much like C. hecla, but larger and lighter. 

 Disc, spot f.w. very slight, on h.w. nearly absent. 

 This species is in Leech's Collection, but only $ is 

 represented. 



Hab. Sinin Alps, Central Asia. 



19. C. hecla. Lef. Ann. S. Fr. 1836, p.l383,pl. 9. 

 Lg. B. E. p. 55, pi. xiii. fig. 1. 



36—46 mm. 



& Colour of wings clear orange yellow, of a 

 tone something between that of C. myrmidone and 

 C. edusa, rather brighter than the latter, and 

 yellower than the former. Out. marginal band 

 broader on both f. and h.w. proportionally than 

 those of C. myrmidone, dusted with yellow 

 usually on f.w., and sometimes on h.w., veined with 

 yellow. Disc, spot f.w. variable, never anything 

 more than a black linear dash, often almost absent ; 

 that of h.w. fairly well marked, but not large, and 

 of a bright orange. Nervures light. Fringes light 

 yellow, with very little mixture of red. 9 Larger 

 than $. Ground colour varies from bright orange, 

 like that of C. myrmidone, to a dull ochreous 

 orange. The brighter specimens show violet re- 

 flections as in the S- Marginal borders broad, 

 spots large and well defined, light yellow, very 

 regularly disposed, especially on h.w. ; disc, spot 

 f.w. generally as large as in the 9 of the allied 

 species, but sometimes with a light centre ; that 

 of h.w. large and bright. Neuration of f.w. 

 blackish. Fringes entirely rosy red, without 

 any mixture of yellow. U.s. f.w. bright 

 orange. Out. marg. broadly yellowish green. 

 Disc, spot small and light-centred. In 5 there is 

 an ante-marginal row of spots not seen in $. 

 H.w. dark green, with a basal shading of bluish- 

 green, especially in $ . Marginal band lighter 

 and yellower. Disc, spot deep crimson, with a 

 pearly centre. 



Hab. Tromso, etc., in Norway, Lapland, Lulea, 

 Tornea, etc., in Sweden. VII. — VIII. 



a. var. groenlandica Lamp. Very much duller 

 as regards the ground colour. Marginal borders in 

 $ much narrower and more indented on the inner 

 edge. More distinctly veined with yellow. Disc, 

 spot very indistinct and brownish-red, in place of 

 black. 5 much duller than in type ; spots on 

 marginal borders on both f. and h.w. reduced to 

 two or three very indefinitely marked ones towards 



the fore part of the band. U.S. darker and more 

 uniform in colour and pattern than in the type. 

 HAB. Labrador, Greenland 



b. var. glacialis M'Lachlah, Journ. Linn. Soc, 

 vol. xiv. p. 108, a still more dull, darker, and 

 smaller form, found in the high north of Arctic 

 America in 1876 by Captain Fielden and Mr. Hart, 

 between 78° and 83° N. lat. 



It will be seen that Colias hecla is distributed 

 throughout the Polar regions of Europe and 

 America. The European form is much brighter 

 and more distinctly marked than that found in 

 Polar America. 



Some have considered C hecla to be a polar 

 dwarf form of C. edusa or of C. myrmidone ; but 

 admitting as correct the zoological grouping of 

 the genus used herein, this is obviously impossible. 

 It is, however, very probably the Arctic or circum- 

 polar representative of that group of Coliades that 

 seems to centre round the Asiatic Colias eoc/ene and 

 branches out into such forms as C thisoa, C. 

 viluensis, and perhaps we may also say C. romanovi, 

 C. regia, etc. 



20. C. boothii Curtis. Descr. App. Narr., p. 

 65, pi. A, 3—5. 1834. 



42 — 44 mm. 



The following is my own description of this 

 species on page 70, " Butterflies of Europe." It is 

 taken from the specimens in the British Museum 

 Cabinet : — " The fore wings are orange-yellow., 

 shading off along the costa and hind mai'gin into 

 light green ; the discoidal spot is small and 

 roundish ; the marginal black band is very narrow. 

 The hind wings are greenish, with an orange dis- 

 coidal spot and a very narrow black hind marginal 

 band. The fringes of all the wings are red." 



Hab. Found in Arctic America, in the district 

 known as Boothia Felix, between 70° and 75° N. 

 lat. 



" This species," I wrote in the same work, "is 

 quite distinct from C hecla, with which it has been 

 sometimes confounded. The extremely narrow un- 

 veined border and the greenish tint of the wings 

 are never found in C. hecla, and the discoidal spot 

 in the male of the latter species is never rounded." 

 I have no further information of this species since 

 writing the above, and I do not think any addi- 

 tions have been made to the series in the national 

 collection. 



a. ab. ehione Curtis. In this aberration the disc, 

 spot and marginal borders are almost if not entirely 

 obliterated. Hab. Same as type. 



