342 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



less variable than the Palaearctic insect. No form so white as our ab. 

 alba, usually, but erroneously, called schmidtii has yet been taken there, 

 but an approach to our ab. intermedia is found in the fidliolux of Hulst, 

 whilst two of our best known European forms, ab. obliterata and ab. 

 fasciata, were first described from American specimens. [Reference to 

 these must be made (postea).] It is quite clear from Maynard's note 

 (Butts. New England, 1886, p. 41) that most of the European aberrations 

 that show variation in the spotting of the forewings occur in North 

 America as frequently as they do in Europe, whilst the suffusion noted 

 in our summer examples in the Pakearctic region is also recorded from 

 North America, Weir observing (Ent., xvii., p.- 50) that phlaeas, taken 

 at Moose (Hudson Bay), has the wings suffused with black, with but very 

 faint traces of orange visible, both sexes being as dark in colour as $ L. 

 dorilis. Chapman has already pointed out the characters of the American 

 race, and made (antea, pp. 337-338) some comparisons between this and 

 Scandinavian examples. Schneider says (Tromso Mas. Aarsheft., xv., 

 p. 20) that " all the Scandinavian Arctic specimens belong to var. 

 americanus, distinguished by the lighter bluish-green underside, and 

 apparently the much stronger and more sharply defined black dots on 

 the underside of the hindwings. He says, further, that it is difficult 

 to find any constant characters on the upperside between the northern 

 and southern Scandinavian examples, although the distribution of red 

 and black appears to be more variable in the north, especially as regards 

 the hindwings. He thinks that R. phlaeas reaches its finest and largest 

 development in the northern areas of its distribution, e.g., the largest $ 

 from Tromso measured 28mm., an expanse greater than that of his ex- 

 amples from central and southern Europe. He adds that Arctic examples 

 are also distinguished by their light and bright yellowish-red colour. 



a. var. (a?ispec. dist.) Hypophlaeas, Bdv.,"Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr.," 2ndser.,x., 

 p. 291 (1852); Morr., " Svn. Lep. Nor. Amer.," p. 84 (1862); Scudd., "Bull. 

 Buff. Soc. Sci.," iii., p. 1.28 (1876); Streck., "Cat. Am. Lep.," p. 101 (1878); 

 Scudd., "Butts.," p. 166, figs. 4, 7,25,42,58, 105 (1881); Edw., "Kev. Cat. Lep.," 

 p. 59 (1884); French, "Butts. East. Un. Sta.," pp. 283-4, figs. 75-77 (1886); Scudd., 

 "Butts. New Engl.," ii., pp. 998 6^^. (1889). Americana, Harr., "Ins. Inj. Veg.," 

 3rd ed., pp. 273-4, fig. 104 (1862). Americanus, D'Urb., "Can. Nat.," v., p. 246 

 (1860); Morr., "Syn. Lep. N. Amer.," p. 91 (1862); French, "Kept. 111. Ins.," vii., 

 p. 158 (1878); Fern., "Butts. Ma.," pp. 89-90, figs. 27-28 (1884); Schoyen, "Ent. 

 Tids.," vi., p. 141 (1885); Mayn., "Bmts. NewEng.," p. 41, pi. v., figs. 52a-c (1886); 

 Staud., "Rom. Mem.," vi., p. 156 (1892); Schneid., " Troms. Mus. Aarsh.," xv., 

 p. 20 (1893). Phlaeas, Godt., "Enc. Meth.," ix., pp. 609, 670-671 (1819) ; Bdv., 

 "Lep. Am. Sept.," pp. 123-24(1833); Harr., "Hitch Kept.," p. 590 (1833); Emm., 

 " Agr. New Yk.," v., p. 216, pi. xlvi., fig. 4 (1854); Morr., "Syn. Lep. N. Am.." 

 p. 84 (1862). Hypophleas, Staud. and Reb., " Cat.," 3rd ed., p. 74 (1901).— Tres 

 voisin de notre phlaeas, mais plus petit, avec les points plus marquees, les ailes 

 plus arrondies ; le dessous des ailes inferieures d'un cendre-blanchatre, avec la 

 bande fauve marginale bien marquee. Nord de la Californie. II se retrouve dans 

 tout le nord des Etats-Unis (Boisduval). Imago. — Forewings brilliant orange-red, 

 with a metallic coppery lustre ; near the base, especially on the lower half, a very 

 little darker ; the median veins in the <? dark brown ; the costal border, as far as 

 the subcostal nervure (excepting the extreme base), the outer border, for the width 

 of at least the interspace, more broadly above, and the apical half of the inner 

 border, dark grey-brown with a slight greenish tinge ; in the ? , the costal border 

 is only marked in this way very narrowly on its apical half, the basal half being 

 either greenish-grey, or like the prevailing colour of the wing, but with a decided 

 greenish hue. The wing is ornamented by eight straight, quadrate, transverse, 

 very dark mulberry-brown or black bars, each crossing an interspace ; two are in 

 the cell and the others form an irregular, transverse, series, in the middle of the 

 outer half of the wing ; one is near the middle of the cell, just over the first divarica- 

 tion of the median, but does not reach either margin of the cell ; another borders on 



