84 



several days ; but on visiting the locality again on the 16th, I 

 found both species commonly. Many of the corydon were 

 still quite fresh, and some of the bellargns were decidedly 

 worn ; indeed, there was little to pick between the two species 

 as to condition : they were flying freely together, and resting 

 on the same flowers. It may not be out of place here to 

 mention that on September 1st Mr. E. Sabine sent me for 

 inspection some thirty or forty pill-boxes, each containing 

 a living L. bellargus or L. corydon, all taken on the previous 

 day, and called my attention to the fresh condition of many 

 of the latter species ; he also wrote that the second brood 

 of bellargus commenced to appear on August 8th ; and on 

 September 9th, he further wrote, saying that the two species 

 were still flying, but owing to the recent rough weather, each 

 was in considerably reduced numbers. Yet there were among 

 each some specimens " evidently not long out- of the pupa." 

 His experience, therefore, appears to agree pretty closely 

 with my own, except that the date he gives for the appear- 

 ance of bellargus is considerably earlier than that on which I 

 observed it ; but this maybe accounted for by the difference in 

 locality — his being inland, while mine was on the sea coast. 



" My observations of the markings of these species were 

 confined chiefly to corydon, and more particularly to the 

 arrangement of the spots of the underside. Variation was 

 very frequent, probably one in ten of the specimens examined 

 varying in a greater or less degree from the normal type, but 

 always in one of two directions ; on the one hand, the basal 

 spots, especially the lower one, have a tendency to become 

 elongated towards the centre of the wing, sometimes joining 

 the lower one of the central row, and thus forming a band or 

 blotch near the inner margin ; while, on the other hand, the 

 tendency is towards a disappearance of the basal spots, which 

 in some cases are altogether absent. These forms of varia- 

 tion are, I believe, by no means confined to this particular 

 locality or to this one species, but are to be found as com- 

 monly both in bellargus and icarus, indeed, of the last-named I 

 took examples in which each was well defined. I am aware 

 that this is a subject that has already received considerable 



