266 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Of the hitherto-described forms, we suspect isabellae, Lamb., to be a 

 modification of ab. suffusa-variegata; cervantes, Grasl., a special 

 development of ab. snffusa-transversa, into a local southern race, 

 whilst darns, Carad., popoviana, Nordn., and sinina, Grum-Grsh., 

 appear to belong to a paler race with grey ground colour that should 

 precede our no. 1, "drab-brown," in the tabulation above, and not 

 represented in our western examples. Bankes writes : "In the 

 palest British specimen that I have seen, taken by myself in the 

 Isle of Pur beck, on May 31st, 1893, all the wings have the ground 

 colour of a pale raw umber-brown, with well-pronounced series of 

 white spots ; the forewings have a whitish median area, and well- 

 developed, dark raw umber-brown, broken fascia? = fulva, n. ab. My 

 two darkest specimens are, one taken in the Isle of Purbeck in 1904, 

 and one taken at Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, by Mr. G. Fleming, in 

 1903 ; these have a blackish-fuscous ground colour, with well-developed 

 transverse markings on the forewings, which also show the median 

 area lightly, though somewhat partially, suffused with pale grey. One 

 dark individual from Merthyr Tydfil has the central area of the fore- 

 wings no paler than the rest of the wing, but in Dorset specimens this 

 area is, in my experience, invariably paler, to a greater or less extent." 



The specially described forms, already referred to, work out as fol- 

 lows : — 



a. ab. isabellae, Lamb., " Rev. Soc. Ent. Nainur," p. 15 (1902) ; " Pap. de Belg.," 

 p. 296 (1902). — Of the shape of tages, but with the forewings a little less angulated, 

 of a very dark velvety brownish-black, with the greyish band of the upper wings 

 veiy wide, paler, and better marked than in the type. Hindwings blacker than in 

 tages, with the white marginal points more conspicuous and better marked ; but its 

 best distinguishing characteristic is the violet reflection on all the wings, which is 

 truly remarkable ; in tages, the tint is greenish. Fond d'Arquet — every year 

 occurs more or less common ; examples, with the characters strongly marked, are, 

 however, very rare (Lambillion). 



Lambillion adds that N. tages is one of the most widely distributed 

 species in Belgium, and one of the least variable ; in some years, however, 

 near Namur, this new aberration, in which the tint of the wings is 

 different from that of the type, is not infrequent. 



/3. var. cervantes, Grasl., " Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr.," 1836. p. 558, pi. xvii., B. 1, 2 

 (1836) ; Rbr., " Faun. And.," p. 311 (1837); " Cat. Lep. And.," p. 83 (1858) ; Bdv., 

 " Ind. Meth.," no. 310 (1840) ; Frr., " Neu. Beit,," v., p. 56, pi. 417, fig. 3 (1845) ; Staud., 

 " Cat.," 2nd ed., p. 34 (1871) ; 3rd ed., p. 98 (1901) ; Riihl, " Pal. Gross-Schmett.," 

 i. p. 682 (1895) ; Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 121 (1896).— Alis fusco-subnigris ; anticis, 

 in extremo, atomis albis aspersis, duabusque fasciis nigris, transversis, sinuatis, 

 denticulatis ; fasciis externis, sexto dente majore ; hac fascia noimullis maculis 

 cinereis in medio notata ; posticis serie marginali maculis, maculaque subcentrali 

 rufulis, paulum distinctis. Very similar to tages, but, independently of the fact 

 that, in the smallest individuals, this species has the two transverse bands wider than in 

 the largest tages, it also differs in the form of its wings, which are more elongated 

 proportionally, and of which the anal angle is less prolonged, in its colour, which 

 is much darker, and by other characters, which will be noticed in the following 

 description: " Les quatre ailes sont d'un brun-noir, les superieures qui sont un 

 peu plus obscures, principalement en approchant du corselet, sont saupoudreVs, 

 surtout sur leur moitie exterieure, de petits atomes blancs tres delies, elles sont i ra- 

 ve rsees, vers leur tiers externe par une bande noire un peu sinueuse, fortement dente] ee 

 sur les bords ; mais plus du cote exterieur, ou la sixieme dentelure, a partir de la 

 cote, se trouve etre la plus grande. Le milieu de la bande noire vis-a-vis cette 

 dentelure, offre une petite tache orbiculaire formee par les atomes dent j'ai parle 

 plus haut. On retrouve souvent de semblables taches, en face des autres dentelures, 

 en descendant, mais moins distinctes a mesure qu'elles approchent du bas de l'aile ; 

 de maniere que la bande semble formee par une suite de chainons noirs, reunis, et 



