UKBICOLA COMMA. 173 



with the exception of P. ottoe, which scarcely exceeds it, but, on the upper surface, 

 resembles closely the preceding (Colorado), differing from it in having the mesial band 

 of the underside of the hindwings more conspicuous upon the upper surface of the males 

 than in P. Colorado. The ? s are peculiar for their pale appearance, due to three 

 causes : a really paler tint to the tawny parts of the wing, in which respect they 

 resemble the Oregon specimens of P. nevada; a narrow, dark, outer border to the 

 wings; and the much broader mesial belt of the hindwings; more than in any 

 other species, the interior edge of the outer margin of the forewings of the ? is 

 very crenate, the brighter ground following the nervules nearly to the margin of 

 the wing, while at the base of the lower median interspace, and in the interspace 

 below it, are a couple of continuous, or nearly continuous, dark brown patches, 

 resembling those which so often accompany the inferior edge of the discal patch of 

 the <j in this group of Vrbicolae. Beneath they are peculiar in having the mesial 

 band of the hindwing broader than in any other species, and rather more uniform 

 than usual, the spots of which it is composed being white, nearly square and equal, 

 and forming a belt, bent in the middle almost exactly at a right angle, or in the ? 

 at slightly less than a right angle ; in the $ the belt is almost wholly continuous, 

 although sometimes broken at the lower subcostal nervure, but in the ? it is usually 

 broken both here and at the upper median nervule ; the ground-colour in both sexes 

 is a greenish -griseous. The genital organs show the upper organ as in P. Colorado, 

 but considerably stouter. Clasps not large, extending nearly as far as the upper 

 organ, nearly, or quite, as long as broad, the upper border furnished with a slight 

 swelling next the base, but otherwise tapering regularly, the posterior margin well 

 rounded, extending considerably beyond the apical tooth, as in P. comma ; this is 

 slightly shorter than the pre-apical tooth, and separated very narrowly from it by a 

 deep round excision, both the teeth are incurved, but nearly erect ; the inner 

 anterior edge of the apical tooth is sharply denticulated, but it hardly extends 

 forward into a serrated lamina. This butterfly occurs in California and in the 

 neighbourhood of Salt Lake City, Utah (Scudder). 



Of this, Speyer writes [Can. Ent., xv., p. 142): "Juba* differs from 

 comma, as also from its American congeners as follows : (1) Juba is 

 larger than comma. (2) It has a somewhat different outline of wing, 

 etc. (3) The ground-colour of the primaries bright orange, especially 

 in 2 , the brown marginal band very dark, and, towards the lower 

 end, much more sharply denned than in comma, etc. (4) The J discal 

 stigma is longer than in comma, proportionately narrow, its upper 

 end pointed and distinctly bent, not so straight as in comma and the 

 other American forms. (5) In the $ , two dark brown spots, separated 

 by the second nervule, stand out very prominently on the bright ground 

 in the disc of the primaries, and between them and the dark margin is 

 a broad space of clear orange ; in comma $ the two spots are also 

 present, but mostly united, and cohering with the dark spot below the 

 apex of the wings, but the two spots are not so dark nor sharply 

 defined and prominent as in juba, etc. (6) The underside of the 

 secondaries is, in juba, as strongly sprinkled with fuscous as in comma 

 var. catena, and has also equally large, bright, white-chequered spots, 

 in one 2 the arrangement of the spots corresponds with catena, in the 

 other three (2 J s, 1 $ ) the row is more irregular and broken, while 

 the spot between the fourth and sixth nervules is quite separated from 

 the sixth cell, and is placed nearer to the margin ; in two examples 

 (J and 2 ) the spots are united. Evidence is thus afforded that the 

 form and order of these spots, even in specimens undoubtedly closely 

 related, are subjected to great variation. Juba is, at any rate, a very 

 well-marked local form of comma.'" Four examples (without locality) 

 in the Hewitson collection in the British Museum, appear to be rightly 



* The two pairs Speyer possessed are noted as "from Utah ( <? and ? ) and 

 California ( g and ? ), all unfortunately more or less worn and mutilated." 



