72 



BKITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



are to be found, one of scarcely more than half the superficial area of 

 the other, and Scudder supports this (op. cit.), adding that this great 

 disparity in size is marked, because there seems to be no regular grada- 

 tion between the two, merely two distinct sets in size. He dissents, 

 however, from Edwards' statement, that these two sizes occur every- 

 where and has himself only noted them from Long Island and Cape 

 Cod, and thinks they are confined to the autumn brood." The varia- 

 tion in the size of the autumnal specimens in Europe has already been 

 noted (antea pp. 59, 60). The following are the notes that we have 

 collected on the American forms of the species : 



a. var. (an spec, dist.) comyntas, Godt., " Erie. Meth.," ix., pp. 660 ; Latr., I.e., 

 608 (1819); Bdv. and Le Conte, "Lep. Amer. Sept.," pp. 120-1, pi- xxxvi., figs. 6-9 

 (1833) ; Dbldy., "List Lep. Brit. Mus.," ii., pp. 43-4 (1847) ; D'Urb., " Can. Nat.," 

 v., p. 246 (1860) ; Morr., " Syn. Lep. N. Amer.," p. 83 (1862) ; Harr., " Ins. Inj. 

 Veg.," 3rd ed., p. 275 (1862) ; " Entom. Corresp.," p. 275 (1869) ; Kirby, " Syn. 

 Cat. Lep.," p. 356 (1871) ; Scudd., " Syst. Bev. Am. Butts.," p. 35 (1872) ; Abb., 

 "Can. Ent.," iv., p. 87 (1872); Edw., "Can. Ent.," viii., pp. 202-5 (1876) ; 

 Aar., " Can. Ent.," ix., p. 200 (1877) ; Scudd., " Butts.," pp. 130, 152, 308, fig. 

 125 (1881) ; Middl., " Bep. Ins. 111.," x., pp. 95-6 (1881) ; Edw., " Can. Ent.," 

 xvi., p. 84 (1884); Fern., "Butts. Maine," pp. 91-3, fig. 32 (1884); French, 

 "Butts. E. Unit. States," pp. 292-4, fig. 81 (1886) ; Mayn., "Butts. N. Engl.," 

 p. 40, pi. v., figs. 50-50a (1886); Godm. and Salv., " Biol. Centr. Amer. Bhop.", 

 ii., p. 108 (1887); Scudd., "Butts. N. Engl.," ii., pp. 911 et seq., pi. vi., figs. 9-10 

 (1889) ; " Brief Guide, etc.," p. 123 (1893) ; Ckll., "Trans. Am. Ent. Soc," xx., 

 p. 355 (1893); Grant, " Can. Ent.," xxix., p. 208 (1897); Williams, "Can. Ent.," 

 xxxv., p. 187 (1903). — Polyommate comyntas. — Dessus des ailes d'un bleu-violet 

 chez le male, d'un brun-noiratre chez la femelle ; leur dessous d'un gris-bleuatre 

 et ocelle de noir ; celui des inferieures offrant a Tangle anal deux lunules fauves, 

 chargees chacune d'un oeil dore (Latreille, Enc. Meth., ix., p. 608). Polyommatus. — 

 Alis supra maris violaceo-cseruleis, feminae fuscis ; subtus canis, nigro ocellatis ; 

 posticis lunulis duabus anguli ani fulvis ocello inaurato singulatim foetis. It only 

 differs from amyntas in that the two fulvous lunules on the underside of the hind- 

 wings are each supplied with a black eye and golden iris, instead of there being 

 merely a black dot. It is found in North America. Observation : How can one 

 really distinguish between amyntas and polysperchon of Ochsenheimer? Can one 

 assume as a difference the lack, probably accidental, of the tawny tip which termi- 

 nates the antennae (Godart, J5J?ic . AZ^7i.,ix.,p. 660). Accessory sexual peculiarities. 

 — Scattered upon the upper surface of the wings, apparently with no regularity nor 

 selection of place, are androconia of the normal battledore shape (pi. 46, fig. 31), 

 the lamina with equal sides, broadly rounded apex, scarcely longer than broad, 

 and studded with about fifteen closely crowded rows of bead-like dots, arranged 

 longitudinally and regularly; stem less than half as long as the lamina, expand- 

 ing gradually as it joins it. They are much smaller than the ordinary scales, 

 averaging about -008mm. in breadth. Egg (pi. 65, fig. 20). — Surface covered 

 uniformly both above and on the sides with raised, rounded, bulbous points, 

 higher on the sides than on top, arranged in tolerably regular oblique rows, and 

 averaging -04mm. in distance apart ; these are connected by fine raised ridges of 

 much less elevation, forming tolerably regular cells, the surface of which is deli- 

 cately punctate. Colour delicate pea-green, the elevated portions white. Toward 

 the micropyle (pi. 68, figs. 5, 12) the tubercles become smaller and closer, and are more 

 irregularly placed, and the cells of course become smaller and often pentagonal. 

 The micropylic space is sharply bounded by an angulate periphery, is about -01mm. 

 in diameter, greener in colour, with a tracery similar to that of the neighbouring 

 parts, but still smaller and more delicate, the cells averaging about -01mm. in 

 diameter, and only the outer ones punctate. Diameter of egg, -5mm. ; height, 



° All these facts could be accounted for on the supposition that the larva; 

 regularly (or, if Scudder's view be correct, those of the autumn brood only, suppos- 

 ing there are but two broods), divide into "forwards" and "laggards," the former 

 feedingup quickly and producing in consequence small imagines, while the latter 

 feed up more slowl}' and emerge as large imagines at the same time as the 

 small " forwards " of the following brood (Wheeler). 



