254 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



This form might have been described as intermediate between 

 astrarche, Bergs., and omata, Staud., since it has a much deeper red 

 border on the upperside than the former and more nearly resembles 

 the latter on the underside than calida, though the border on the 

 upperside is not so deep as in omata. The ground colour of the 

 upperside has a reddish tinge in the brown, like the more southern 

 forms, and the marginal row of black spots on the hindwing is 

 generally well developed. This form is somewhat widespread, 

 occurring occasionally in the south of England, and extending into 

 Turkey, where, according to Graves, it is the usual spring form on 

 both sides of the Bosphorus. In the plains of France it occurs 

 generally, and is the ordinary form in both spring and summer 

 broods. 



6. ab. omata, Staud., " Iris," p. 280 (1892); Riihl, " Pal. Gr.-Schmetfc.," p. 

 262 (1893) ; Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 180 (1896) ; Staud., " Cat.," 3rd ed., p. 83 

 (1901); Spuler, " Schmett. Eur.," p. 63 (1902); Lamb., "Pap. Belg.," p. 229 

 (1902) ; Aig.-Ab., " Ent. Wchnbl.," xxv., p. 73 (1908; ; Grund, " Int. Ent. Zeits. 

 Gub.," ii., p. 79 (1908); Seitz, " Gr.- Schmett.," L, p. 309, pi. lxxx., a (1909); 

 Courv., "Ent. Zeits.," xxiv., p. 126 (1910). — Some of the specimens before me 

 from Tunis hardly differ from the usual form, some have on the upperside a broad 

 reddish band of marginal spots, while the underside is light grey, as in ordinary 

 astrarche, I have met with similar specimens in abundance on the island of 

 Sardinia. Also singly at Chiclana (Cadiz), and I have also a male from Teneriffe 

 and a female from Corsica. I designate these ab. omata, they belong (perhaps) 

 always to the first brood, and predominate in certain localities in the South, and 

 generally seem to occur only in the female sex (Staudinger). 



Staudinger goes on to explain that his ab. omata differs in the 

 colour of the underside both from calida, Bell., and from canariensis, 

 Blach. (i.e., cramera, Eschh.), and states that, in addition to the 

 localities above mentioned, he possesses specimens of this form from 

 Central Asia. It is the usual form of the spring brood in Morocco and 

 Algiers, in southern Spain (except in the Sierras), in Sardinia, and in 

 some parts of Sicily ; it also occurs in Italy as far north as Orta 

 (Lowe), in Dalmatia (Grund), in Hungary (Aigner-Abafi) and in 

 Germany (Gillmer). The most pronounced specimens, in which the 

 underside is white, occur in Syria and, more especially, in Asia Minor; 

 there are specimens from both these localities in the Brit. Mus. coll., 

 in fact all the spring specimens from the latter are of this variety in 

 its most striking form. 



t. var. aestiva, Staud., " Hor. Soc. Ent. Boss.," vii., p. 52 (1871); "Cat," 

 2nded., p. 11 (1871); Kirby, "Syn. Cat.," p. 766(1871); Staud., "Hor. Soc. Ent. 

 Ross.," xiv., p. 241 (1878); Peyenm., "Lep. Als.," 4th ed., p. 24 (1880) ; Kane, 

 "Eur. Butts.," p. 41 (1885); Chrstph., "Rom. Mem. Lep.," iii., p. 52 (1887) ; 

 Dale, " Hist. Brit. Butts.," p. 74 (1890) ; Staud., " Iris," v., p. 280 (1892) ; Riihl, 

 "Pal. Gr.-Schmett.," pp. 261 (1893), 759(1895); Tutt, "Brit. Butts.," p. 180 

 (1896); Bachm., " Soc. Ent.," xi., p. 151 (1896); Favre, "Macr.-Lep. Val.," p. 

 18 (1899) ; Steff., "Bull. Soc. Ent. It.," xxxii., p. 335 (1900) ; Staud., " Cat.," 

 3rd ed., p. 83 (1901); Fleck, "Macr.-Lep. Ruman.," p. 20 (1901); Aig.-Ab., "Ent. 

 Wochbl.," xxv., p. 73 (1908) ; Seitz, " Gr.-Schmett.," i., p. 309 (1909) ; Courv., 

 "Ent. Zeits.," xxiv., p. 126 (1910). Medon, Esp., " Schmett. Eur.," i., pt. 2, 

 p. 31, pi. lv. Tcont. v.], fig. 7 (1780). Alloits, Gerh., " Mon.," p. 15, pi. xxvi., 

 fig. 2 (1852); "(?) Brom., " Butts. Riv.," p. 36 (1892). Astiva, Mosl., " Illus. Brit. 

 Lep.," pt. vii., pi. ii., expl. (1880). Calida, Wheel., " Butts. Switz.," &c, p. 38 

 (1903). — Whereas the spring brood invariably exhibits a light grey colour beneath, 

 there appear in the summer brood in Greece, as everywhere else in the south of 

 Europe, specimens, ? particularly, with a deep grey-brown colouring of the 

 underside. These latter have been sent out by mistake, by myself as well as 

 others, as ab. allous, Hb., but it would be preferable were they called var. aestiva 

 meridionalis (Staudinger). 



