544 



BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



any of the continental lepidopterists have any very clear view as to the 

 differences between A. trifolii and A. lonicerae, and it would be absurd 

 to attempt any generalisation upon unreliable data. One may add, 

 however, that in Algeria, both A. trifolii and A. palustris maintain 

 their characteristic habits and habitats. A. syracusia represents our 

 A. trifolii, and in Algeria is almost indistinguishable from it; A. 

 seriziati represents A. palustris, and is marvellously modified in the 

 blue colour of the fore-wings and in the border of the hind-wings, 

 which sometimes occupies almost the whole wing. Whether or no 

 one would maintain the specific identity of British trifolii and palustris, 

 he would be a bold man who would unite specifically the Algerian 

 A. syracusia and A. seriziati. 



One other species remains for consideration, viz., A. filipendidae. 

 This has a great range in Europe, although almost unknown in Asia 

 (exclusive of Asia Minor). It extends from the north of Scandinavia 

 to the Mediterranean Sea, and reaches to a considerable height up the 

 mountains, from 6,000-7000 ft. in the central Alps. We have not 

 merely, however, alpine and lowland forms, for the former, although 

 specialised in the direction of thinner scaling and duller coloration 

 (and the race from the Alps, var. mannii, is similar to that from 

 Finmark, var. arctica, in these respects) resembles the lowland type, 

 more than do some of the lowland forms each other. We have, in 

 England, two of the best-marked forms, or races, that the insect 

 presents, viz., the early (May and June) meadow form known as 

 hippocrepidis, Stephs., and the ordinary later (July and August) form 

 A. filipendidae. In many ways these are exactly parallel with A. 

 trifolii and A. palustris, respectively, hippocrepidis being earlier, smaller 

 in size, the red spots much reduced, the marginal border of the hind- 

 wings broader, whilst the filipendidae of our hills and waste places 

 often presents us with somewhat intermediate forms between these and 

 the large, late specimens we obtain on our coast cliffs and marshes. 

 The origin of A. hippocrepidis, Stephs., is uncertain. As we have 

 pointed out, it is often a meadow species like the early A. trifolii, and 

 frequently occurs therewith, appearing in the imaginal, whilst typical 

 filipendidae is still in the larval, state. The specialisation in spotting 

 is most marked, the males having the 6th spot reduced, and occa- 

 sionally entirely absent, when it is quite indistinguishable from A. 

 trifolii. We understand that M. Dupont captured examples of hippo- 

 crepidis, Stephs., in 1898, near Le Havre, strangely enough with early 

 A. trifolii. Two questions arise — Is A. hippocrepidis, Stephs., a dis- 

 tinct species ? Is it more closely related to A. trifolii or A. filipendidae ? 

 Bateson examined the genitalia of some of our best examples of A. 

 hippocrepidis (one distinctly A. trifolii in size, shape, colour, and 

 spotting), and reported them as undoubted filipendidae. Yet its life- 

 history and cycle of existence are perfectly distinct from those of 

 A. filipendidae, and there is no great similarity in the imagines, except 

 that a large percentage have six spots, an almost unfailing condition 

 in A. filipendidae. The life-histories want working out critically, 

 and, if possible, all stages compared by an expert, before a final con- 

 clusion can be reached. We have been unable, on the strength of 

 our field observations, to come to any other conclusion than that A. 

 hippocrepidis is a near ally, if not direct offshoot of A. trifolii. Our 

 reason for this supposition is that we have seen a well-known locality 



