Lepidoptera 13 i 



Oeneis semidea Say. 



Hipparchia semidea Say: Am. Ent., Ill, pi. 50, 1828. 



In the Canadian National collection there are thirteen specimens of Oeneis 

 from the Yukon Territory which I have compared with semidea from New 

 Hampshire, and from which they do not differ in characters which seem to me 

 to be important. The genitalia, also, are very close to those of specimens from 

 Mount Washington, New Hampshire, as will beT seen by comparing the figures 

 on Plate I, figs. 2 and 3. The underside of these specimens is in general very 

 similar to Edwards' figure 2'. The females are large, expanding 51-53 mm. 

 The males, excepting one specimen, expand 44-47 mm. the exception having a 

 wing expanse of 53 mm. 



These specimens are from the following localities: Mountain 6,500 feet 

 above Wolf canyon, Pelly river, Yukon Territory, July 17, 1907, 2 males (J. 

 Keele); Pelly river at Hoole canyon, Yukon Territory, July 30, 1907, male 

 (J. Keele); Stewart river, Yukon Territory, 4,000 feet above valley, July 18, 

 1905, male (J. Keele); Mountain top, above Nadaleen river, Yukon Territory, 

 July 10, 1905, male (J. Keele) ; Mountain near Upper Pelly river, Yukon Terri- 

 tory, July 13, 1907, female (J. Keele) ; Orange creek, Yukon Territory, lat. 66° 

 10', international boundary, June 27, 1912, 2 females (D. D. Cairnes) ; Eduni 

 mountain, 4,500-6,000 feet. Gravel river. Northwest Territories, July 5, 8, 1908, 

 1 male, 3 females (J. Keele) ; Gravel river, mountain below Natla river, North- 

 west Territories, July 2, 1908, female (J. Keele). 



The underside of two males, one from Pelly river, Yukon Territory, the other 

 from Gravel river. Northwest Territories, together with a female from Orange 

 creek, Yukon Territory, are shown on Plate II, figs, 1, 2 and 3. 



Oeneis semidea var. arctica, new variety 



Differs from semidea from New Hampshire in the general colour of both the 

 upperside and the underside of the wings. The upper side of the wings is pale 

 brown, almost drab^, the dark scales of the underside showing through particu- 

 larly on the secondaries. The underside is of a dull grey-brown, the maculation ' 

 dark brown and not nearly so contrasting with the ground colour as in semidea, 

 the mottlings being much more diffused and there being an absence of the con- 

 spicuous whitish areas present in the latter on the underside of the secondaries, 

 The basal area to anal angle is noticeably darkest, inclining to blackish. Fringes 

 whitish, weakly checkered with brown. 



Alar expanse, 41 mm. 



Type, a male, in the Canadian National collection from Bernard harbour. 

 Northwest Territories, July, 1916 (F. Johansen). (PI. IV, fig. 4.) Four male 

 paratypes from the same locality and bearing the same data are in general 

 similar, with wing expanse of 37-38 mm. In addition to the five males there 

 are four females which we are placing tentatively with this new variety. Three 

 of these are from WoUaston Land, Victoria island, 1915 (D. Jenness) ; the fourth 

 is from Bernard harbour, Northwest Territories, July, 1915 (F. Johansen). In 

 these females there is an absence of the black suffusion of the basal area. They 

 have a wing expanse of 41-42 mm. The underside of one of the male paratypes 

 is shown on PL II, fig. 4. 



The claspers of semidea arctica are shown on PI. I, fig. 4 beside those of 

 semidea from New Hampshire. It will be seen that they are very close to those 

 of the latter. The general colour of the arctic specimens as well as the nature 

 of the maculation on the underside of the secondaries, and their smaller wing 

 expanse seem to warrant the naming of this variety or race. 



iButt. of N.A., Chionobas, IX, f. 2. 



^Ridgway's Color Standards and Nomenclature, 1912. 



