NOTES ON COLIAS CROCEUS, FOURC. 103 



June 20-21. — This larva pupated, head upwards on main stem 

 of lucerne plant ; colour, semi-transparent green 

 (pea-green), a little lighter than the lucerne 

 leaves. White lateral line along thorax and 

 abdomen, with dark brown dorso-lateral mark as 

 in the other pupa. The colour closely resembles 

 that of the leaves around it. 

 ,, 26. — Markings of female croceus conspicuously showing 

 through the pupal skin, and the butterfly emerged 

 about 5 a.m. 27th. 

 1921 : 



Oct. 28. — (Baghdad.) Colias croceus seen. 



Nov. 9. — (Baghdad.) Colias croceus male taken in worn state. 



,, 10. — Six seen in garden, three at one time. 



,, 15. — Eemarkably common in garden in last few days. 



,, 28. — Male seen courting settled female, both worn specns. 



Capt. N. D. Eiley, having selected a series of 150 of my 

 specimens, as stated above, for the National Collection, writes of 

 them as follows : 



"A magnificent species. The Persian specimens cover the 

 dates 14/7/18-10/9/18. The Mesopotamian series represent cap- 

 tures in nearly every week of the months January-July (middle). 

 As regards size they range from an expanse of 3*7 mm. ( 9 Jebel 

 Hamrin, 8/7/18), to 5*4 ($Amara, 26/5/18). The January and 

 February specimens are noticeably and consistently smaller 

 than those of any other month, with the exception of the one 

 very small female mentioned above, and an exactly similar one 

 from same locality dated 10/6/18. 



" The amount of variation in colour and markings is 

 remarkable. One male (Kizil Eobat, 22/3/19) has ground almost 

 lemon-yellow instead of orange ; some examples in which all the 

 veins are marked with yellow across the outer marginal border 

 are referable to ab. faillae, Ste. 



"Of the females, almost exactly 33^ per cent, [of those 

 selected] are of the white helice form ; two of the f. aubuissoni, 

 Caradja, intermediates in which the yellow has failed ; one of 

 the ? f. helicina, Oberth., an intermediate form in which the red 

 pigment is absent, leaving the specimen a delicate lemon-yellow. 



"For the rest no two specimens are alike, so it would serve 

 no useful purpose to go into details." 



Mhow, India ; 

 January 31st, 1922. 



