234 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Plain 

 Mountain 



geminated spot present, 



. 6 





,, ,, entirely absent, 



. 7 





single ,, present, 



. 6 = 



19 



germinated ,, present, 



. 16 





,, ,, entirely absent, 



. 27 





single ,, present, 



. 36 = 

 Total 



79 





98 



Only one specimen out of this number possesses the costal spot, 

 viz., one of the mountain examples in which the geminated spot is 

 present, thus, apparently, affording an instance of the presence of all 

 the possible 8 spots, but nothing is said as to the coalescence or 

 otherwise of the geminated spot ; in the form of the plains it is stated 

 that the spots below the " normal " five are small and close together, 

 in the mountain form it is merely said that the spot, when single, is 

 very small, and that in other cases it is double. 



The size of these spots also varies greatly, though their usual 

 tendency is towards being large for the size of the insect ; a slight 

 tendency towards special enlargement is also occasionally to be 

 observed in the three spots above the geminated one, especially in the 

 lowest of the three. The white edging of the two upper of the same 

 three spots is usually somewhat lengthened out towards the orange 

 band, and in some cases presents almost a wedge-shaped streak, 

 analogous with that usually present on the hindwing. In the sub- 

 median row of spots in the hindwing there is a great and very remark- 

 able variation in the position of the two costal spots. The upper one, 

 which normally stands about half as far from the orange band as 

 from the costal spot of the basal row, is occasionally pushed so far 

 towards the latter that the proportion of the distances is exactly 

 reversed, the second spot of the row being then considerably exterior 

 to it and widely separated from it (ab. separata, n. ab.); in other cases, 

 where the costal spot occupies its regular position, the second spot, 

 which is normally slightly exterior to it, may either be immediately 

 below it (ab. directa, n. ab.), or somewhat, often considerably, interior 

 to it (ab. intrusa, n. ab.), making a wide break between this and the 

 rest of the series. Neither of these two latter forms are unusual, and 

 both seem independent of sex, season and locality. In this matter 

 also the two wings often differ somewhat, though rarely to any great 

 extent. Occasionally, even when there is no other appearance of 

 obsolescence, one of the spots is absorbed by the light wedge. The 

 size of this row of spots also varies, but they are generally considerably 

 smaller than those on the forewing. The four basal spots are usually 

 in a straight line, though the third is occasionally placed rather more 

 towards the base, and the fourth either nearer to the base or to the 

 anal angle ; the third, and more rarely the fourth, is sometimes 

 absent. On the other hand, there is sometimes an extra spot on the 

 inner margin between the fourth and the base of the wing. As in 

 other related species, striated specimens exist, but they are very scarce; 

 the occurrence of one or two spots on either wing showing some 

 tendency to elongation is, on the other hand, far from rare ; the spots 

 on the forewing most usually affected are those immediately above the 

 geminated spot, or the uppermost of all, excluding the rare costal 

 spot ; on the hindwing it may occur in any spot of the sub-median 



