ANTHROCERA (tHERMOPHILa) VIC1M. 457 



more inclined to consider this as really an aberration of the true A. 

 viciae, as there is one of Lederer's specimens labelled stentzii, in the 

 British Museum, from Achalzek in Transcaucasia (and we observe 

 that Erschoff records it from this district), which is an undoubted red- 

 belted A. viciae, and Christy also has, as we have already noticed, two 

 New Forest specimens showing this peculiarity in a slight degree. Frey 

 notes this form from Bergell (Pfaffenzeller), Macugnaga, at 4,089 ft. 

 (Staudinger), and once near Zurich (Snell). Caradja remarks that of 300 

 examples captured in Boumania, 15 are typical, six are ab. stentzii, 

 Freyer, the rest ab. dahiirica, Bdv., and ab. dacica, Car. (annulata, 

 Car.). Knapp notes it from Thuringia — Gotha, etc. 



(8. var. (et ab.) dahurica, Bdv., " Icones," ii., p. 57, pi. liv., fig. 7 (1834), nee 

 dahiirica, Mill. — Alis anticis subelongatis, apice subrotundatis, cyaneis vel virescenti- 

 subcinerascentibus, maculis quinque rubris ; posticis rubris margine cyaneo. 



Boisduval remarked that this was near A. meliloti, and possibly 

 only a local form of it, but that in this genus the species are often so 

 near, that when the larvse are unknown it is very difficult to decide 

 whether certain individuals form a variety or distinct species. He noted 

 it as " a quarter larger than A. meliloti, its fore-wings distinctly more 

 rounded at the apex, with the five spots placed almost, identically the 

 ground colour less transparent, the fringes blue-black ; the hind- wings 

 red (slightly rosy), the border blackish, broader than in A. meliloti ; 

 the corselet and abdomen blue-black ; the antenna blackish, rather 

 more blunt than in A. meliloti. From Daourie, in south-eastern 

 Siberia." The figure certainly might represent a local form of A. viciae 

 (meliloti). Staudinger diagnoses (Cat., p. 46) it as " al. post, margine 

 latiore nigro. South-east Siberia." Calberla has seen examples from 

 eastern Asia, which undoubtedly represent a var. of A. meliloti, but 

 these he avers differed in the antennae from Boisduval's description. 

 Caradja records a form corresponding with the broader-margined 

 dahurica, from Boumania, which is fully described under his ab. 

 dacica = annulata (vide, infra). Erschoff records it from the North 

 Amurland districts. 



y. ab. dacica, Caradja, " Iris," 1893, pt. iv., p. 192. Annulata, Carad., 

 " Iris," viii., p. 72 (1895). — The specimens of A. meliloti, captured in Boumania, 

 are chiefly ab. dahurica, and a transition form, in which the hind-wings have a 

 very wide black border, leaving only a small central space red in many examples. As 

 a rare aberration, I have captured some forms of dahurica that have a red abdo- 

 minal belt, and this form I name dacica. This ab. stands in the same relation to 

 var. dahurica as ab. stentzii does to the type form. 



Later, Caradja renamed this form annulata, and said : " From ordi- 

 nary meliloti .... our Boumanian form differs constantly in its 

 smaller size (22-23 mm.), its narrower and more pointed wings, the 

 smaller round red spots, and somewhat thinner antennal shaft. It 

 forms, therefore, in many ways, a well-characterised local race, which 

 I consider to agree with the true var. dahurica, Bdv., since it agrees 

 with the figures that Boisduval (Icones, pi. liv., fig. 7) and Duponchel 

 (Hist. Nat., supp. ii., pi. xli, fig. 2) give of the form, and I have seen 

 almost identical specimens from Central Asia, after which, indeed, 

 Boisduval erected his var. dahurica." 



d. ab. (ant var.) buglossi, Dup., " Lep. France," supp. ii., p. 138 (1835). — This 

 Zygaena was sent to Feisthamel by M. Escher, of Zurich, under the name of 

 buglossi. Boisduval, who received it from the same person, says, in the Icones, 

 that it does not differ from meliloti. We consider that it approaches nearer to 

 dahurica, from which it is in fact only to be distinguished by the more slender 

 antennae, and the more rounded apex of the fore-wings. 



