500 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Isere and the Pyrenees-Orientales, where the red portions are a 

 little violaceous, and rather transparent ; we have figured on pi. viii., 

 fig. 150, a $ from Vernet-les-Bains. This represents the southern 

 race of which Duponchel speaks (Hist. Nat., supp. ii., p. 71, pi. viii., 

 fig. 1). It presents a confluent aberration, but , much more rarely 

 than in the western race, Z. palustris (Oberthiir, Etudes, etc., xxth 

 livr., Variation chez Lepidopteres, pp. 44-46). 



Imago. — Fore-wings greenish or purplish-blue, with five bright 

 crimson spots — two basal (often confluent), two central (often con- 

 fluent), and one towards apex. Hind-wings crimson, with a broad 

 purplish hind-margin. [The females very rarely five-spotted, a very 

 large proportion of this sex with the spots united into a longitudinal 

 blotch.] 



Comparative description of imago with those op allied species. 

 — Expanse of wing 1" 2'" to 1" 6'" . Much larger and stouter than 

 A. trifolii. Antennae thicker and shorter than those of A. filipendulae 

 and A. lonicerae ; those of the $ thicker than those of the $ . The 

 fore-wings with large red spots, the central and basal pairs often 

 united, whilst all the spots frequently coalesce in the female (more 

 rarely in the male). Hind- wings with a broad black border, especially 

 in the male (Briggs). 



Variation. — The general features of the variation of this form are 

 identical with those previously described (ante, p. 485) as characteristic 

 of A. trifolii. Oberthiir has diagnosed two aberrations, as yet only 

 known to occur in the palustris form. 



a. ab. sexmaculata, Oberthiir, " Variation chez Lepidopteres," pp. 48-49, 

 pi. vii., figs. 151-152 (1896).— At the end of May, 1893, at Hublee, about 4 kil. 

 from Rennes, amongst many trifolii, besides normal examples and several con- 

 fluent forms, I obtained 7 specimens with 6 spots. No possibility of error could 

 have occurred, as A. filipendulae does not occur at Hublee. In 1894, chrysalides 

 were collected on the stalks of plants in this locality, 110 examples emerged, 25 

 confluent, 3 ? with 6 spots, the rest normal. In 1895, the species was rare, 25 

 examples were bred, 7 were confluent, the others normal, not a single specimen 

 with 6 spots. 



j3. ab. sexmaculata-confluens, Oberthiir, " Variation chez Lepidopteres," pi. 

 vii., fig. 153. — This is a confluent form of the sexmaculata aberration, i.e., it 

 has the special characters of the latter, but the spots are united into a single longi- 

 tudinal blotch. 



Ovum. — The eggs are laid on their long sides, usually in small 

 heaps, and generally in two layers, one above the other, the micro- 

 pyles of the eggs, however, appearing to be always free. When laid 

 in a single plane the eggs are just in contact. The egg is oval in 

 shape, with equally rounded ends, and with a large, rather irregular, 

 oval depression on the long side. The shell is shiny, and distinctly 

 pitted, and there are many, moderately distinct, longitudinal folds 

 (scarcely ribs) extending from the micropylar pole to its nadir. These 

 cross over the shoulder of the egg, and terminate on the edge of a 

 slight, regularly pitted depression, forming the micropylar area, at the 

 base of which is a minute depressed cavity, the micropyle proper. 

 There are many irregular depressions, evidently brought about by 

 pressure. The egg is bright yellow in colour, the yelk occupying 

 rather less than a half of the egg, the other portion being entirely 

 transparent, but after a little disturbance the yelk becomes more or less 

 distributed throughout the egg, which then becomes of an uniform 

 bright yellow colour. After the larva leaves the egg, the egg-shell is 



