472 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



(Cat., p. 47), and Staudinger himself acknowledges this, for he writes 

 (Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross., vii., p. 103) that his dubia is a mixture of 

 " large, brightly-coloured Alpine A. lonicerae, large, brightly-coloured 

 Alpine five and six-spotted A. angelicae, A. stoechadis with narrow 

 hind-marginal borders to hind-wings, and A. filipenduLae of unfamiliar 

 aspect." Truly a strange mixture ! We examined above 100 pairs 

 of coupled A. medicaginis, at Pre St. Didier, in August, 1898. In 

 none was there the slightest trace of a sixth spot, and all were paired 

 true. About a mile farther up the Dora valley, A. ochsenheimeri was 

 moderately abundant. We examined, here, also a great number of 

 paired examples, and all were paired true, although A. medicaginis 

 occurred on this ground also. It is difficult to distinguish some males 

 of A. ochsenheimeri from those of A. medicaginis, owing to the small 

 size (sometimes almost entirely absent) of spot six in the former, but 

 the sixth spot is always present on the underside in A. ochsenheimeri, 

 and never, in our experience, in A. medicaginis. That these two 

 insects should exist side by side without any real modification, over a 

 range of alps extending from the Little St. Bernard to tbe Mendel Pass 

 (possibly beyond in both directions), says much for their distinctness, 

 and the fact that typical A. lonicerae (indistinguishable from British 

 specimens) occurs in the greatest abundance two or three weeks later 

 than the larger A. medicaginis, practically on the same ground, in the 

 Mendel Pass, is also highly suggestive that A. medicaginis is specifi- 

 cally distinct from A. lonicerae. Herrich-Schaffer's stoechadis appears 

 to represent the most extreme form of the species, so far as the de- 

 velopment of the hind-marginal border of the hind- wings is concerned, 

 the margin itself being very wide, and the dark shading extending 

 over two-thirds of the wing. It bears most resemblance to some ex- 

 amples from Nice (Le Var), sent to us by Oberthiir. The following notes 

 on the ovum of A. medicaginis were made from eggs laid by a ? , cap- 

 tured at Pre St. Didier, August 7th, 1898, and examined with a hand- 

 lens only : Large, oval in outline, length : breadth : height : : 3 : 2 : 1£ 

 (about), a somewhat large irregular depression on the upper surface. 

 Colour of an uniformly pale straw-yellow. The eggs were laid regularly, 

 side by side, in alternate rows, the base (end opposite micropyle) of 

 one egg filling up the space between the micropylar ends of two other 

 eggs in the adjacent row. Thanks to M. Oberthiir, we have been able 

 to examine the cocoon and pupa-case of a specimen of this race (or 

 species) from Vernet-les-Bains. The former is 31 mm. long, 6 mm. 

 wide, of a full yellow colour, of the ordinary shape peculiar to the 

 cocoons of this group. The pupa-case is remarkable in being uniformly 

 of a very pale brown colour, the thoracic and abdominal segments and 

 the head parts being of the same tint. Structurally the pupa pre- 

 sents no differences from so many of its allies. 



Ovum. — The eggs are laid in batches side by side, and just in contact 

 with each other. The egg appears uniformly bright yellow in colour to 

 the naked eye, but under a two-thirds lens the basal third is seen to 

 be quite transparent, the other two-thirds yellow. The egg is oval in 

 outline, length : breadth : : 3 : 2. A shallow oval depression on the 

 upper surface, placed almost centrally. The portion of the egg under- 

 lying the depression rather opaque whitish-yellow, due probably to the 

 reflection of light from the sloping surface of the depression. The egg- 

 shell itself is minutely pitted, but the pits do not appear to form any 



