508 BEITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



Lond.," p. 420(1871) ; Mill., " Cat. L£p. Alp.-Mar.," p. 126 (1872) ; Curd, "Bull. 

 Soc. Ent. Ital.," vii., p. 198 (1875) ; Frey, " Mitt. Schw. Ent. Ges.," iv., p. 225 

 (1874) ; " Lep. der Schweiz," p. 68 (1880) ; " Mitt. Schw. Ent. Ges.," vii., pp. 13- 

 17 (1884) ; Kirby, " Eur. Butts.," etc., p. 91, pi. xxi., figs. 10, a-b (1879) ; " Cat. Lep. 

 Het.,"p. 70 (1892); "Handbook," etc., p. 94 (1897); Sand, "Cat. Lep. Auv.," 

 p. 23 (1879) ; Fritsch, " Denks. Math. Nat. CI. Akad. Wiss.,"xli., pp. 62-3 (1879) ; 

 Peyer., "Cat. Lep. Als.," 2nd Ed., p. 48 (1880); Schneider, " Tromso Mus. 

 Aarsheft.," iii., pp. 85-86 (1880) ; Christ, " Mitt. Sch. Ent. Ges.," vi. p. 45 (1880) ; 

 Schoyen. " Norg. Ark. Lep.," p. 172 (1881); Selys-Long., " C. R. Ent. Soc. Belg ," 

 p. cxiv (1882) ; Bobs., "Young Nat.," iv., p. 161 (1883); Oberth., "Lep. des 

 Pyr.,"p. 31 (1884); " Var. chez Lep," pp. 43-5 (1896); Buck., " Larvas," etc., 

 ii., p. 97, pi. xix.,fig. 4 (1887) ; Hofmn., " Die Gross-Schmett.," p. 35 (1887) ; "Die 

 Baupen," etc., p. 37 (1893); Auriv., " Nord. Fjar.," p. 53(1888); Barr., " Lep. 

 Brit.," ii., p. 133, pi. lx (1894) ; Meyr., " Handbook," etc., p. 447 (1895) ; Caradja, 

 " Iris," viii., p. 73 (1895) ; Tutt, " Brit. Moths," p. 351 (1896) ; " Ent. Rec," ix., 

 pp.88, 103; Reutti, "Lep. Bad.," 2nd Ed., p. 45(1898). Filipendula, Poda, 

 " Mus. Graec," p. 82 (1761). Aries, Retz., " Gen. Sp. Ins.," p. 35 (1783). 



Original description. — Sphinx. Alis superioribus cyaneis : punctis 

 sex rubris ; inferioribus rubris immaculatis (Linn6, Systema Naturae, 

 10th Ed., p. 494). 



Imago. — Anterior wings 25-39 mm. in expanse ; bronzy-green 

 (varying in depth) in colour ; six bright crimson spots, the 6th 

 usually well-defined and separate from the 5th. Posterior wings 

 crimson, with a narrow, dark, marginal band. 



Sexual dimorphism. — The size variation in the two sexes is usually 

 well marked, the males being distinctly smaller on the average than 

 the females. A series of Hartlepool specimens gives the following 

 measurements : $ s 25 mm. -34 mm., $ s 29"5 mm. -37*5 mm. ; from 

 Deal, $ s 29-5 mm. -36 mm., $s 31-5 mm. -39 mm. ; from Sligo, <ys 

 33 mm. -34-5 mm., J s 34-5 mm. -37*5 mm. ; from Dover, 27"5 mm.- 

 33-5 mm., J s 33*5 mm.-38 - 5 mm. The sexual variation in colour in 

 the specimens we have is comparatively slight, all the females in our 

 possession being of a very distinct bronzy-green tint, the males being 

 of a rather deeper hue ; a specimen of blue-green colour is apparently 

 rare, and we have no British examples of a distinct purplish hue in a very 

 long series. The males of the Alpine ochsenheimeri have frequently blue- 

 green fore-wings, and the males of Fletcher's hybrid ochsenheimeri 

 X filipendidae are also of a blue-green tint in a large proportion of 

 specimens, whilst some Tyrolean examples of ochsenheimeri have quite 

 purplish males, and even the females incline to the same tint. Blue- 

 green males are not unusual in A. hippocrepidis, St., which seems to 

 follow A. trifolii in its sexual variation. The males of A. filipendulae 

 have, usually, a broader hind-marginal band to the hind-wings than 

 the females. 



Variation. — The forms of this insect that have almost attained 

 specific rank (having independent life-cycles and habits), such as 

 ochsenheimeri, Zell., and Itippocrepidis, Stephs., are dealt with at length 

 later. Apart from these races (or sub-species), however, A. filipendulae 

 presents some marked tendencies to vary, not only in the arrangement 

 of the normal red spots of the fore-wings, but also in their tint, the 

 latter peculiarity being shared with the red hind-wings. Of its general 

 variation in Scotland, Home notes that he obtains A. filipendidae on the 

 Kincardineshire coast, and that " examples with 5 + 6 confluent are not 

 uncommon, and occasional individuals also have 3 + 4 united, but the 

 latter are rare ; in one specimen 3 + 4 + 5+6 form a single blotch. 

 All Kincardine examples have bluish-green fore-wings (not brassy- 



