RUMICIA PHL.EAS. 



343 



both sides, the extremity of the cell ; three others, the first of the transverse series, 

 are found respectively in the two lower subcostal and the subcosto-median interspaces 

 (and occasionally a fourth, small and obscure, in the next interspace above) forming a 

 curving row, the interior edge of the lower one being midway between the extremity of 

 the cell and the outer margin, and the upper spot removed inward from it by its own 

 width ; one, in the upper median interspace, is removed inward by twice its 

 width from the one above it ; and that in the lower median interspace by half its own 

 width outward ; the lowermost, in the medio-submedian interspace, is removed 

 inward from the one above it by twice its width, and its exterior edge is at twice 

 an interspace's width from the outer border ; the spot at the extremity of the cell 

 is broader than the others, sometimes equalled by the lowermost ; basal half of 

 the fringe like the outer border ; apical half pallid or whitish. Hindwings dark 

 grey-brown, scarcely with a greenish tinge, the central portion of the basal third 

 of the wing with more or fewer scattered, greenish-coppery, scales, the inner half 

 with numerous grey-brown hairs ; outer border edged delicately with dark brown, 

 followed by a broad band of orange-red, broader than an interspace, extending from 

 the inner border to the middle of the upper subcostal interspace, interrupted in 

 the middle of each interspace by a small, round, blackish spot, occupying the 

 exterior border of the band, or causing it to be sharply crenulate ; next the 

 slightly sinuous interior edge, in the middle of each interspace, is a faint, vague, 

 roundish spot, slightly deeper in tint than the prevailing colour, often scarcely 

 discernible, capped by a cluster of perhaps half-a-dozen pale blue scales, and 

 these again by another indistinct dark spot ; the extremity of the cell is marked by 

 a narrow, blackish stripe ; fringe as in the forewings, the pale exterior half inter- 

 rupted with brownish at the tip of the lower median and submedian nervules. s 

 Gknitaxia. — -The $ appendages with the bent elongated lateral alations compressed, 

 cylindrical, equal throughout, rounded at tip, and somewhat swollen anterior to it, 

 the distal half bent abruptly downward, and somewhat outward ; lateral arms 

 tapering regularly to a fine point, sickle-shaped, the curve nearly equal throughout. 

 Clasps forming a tumid subequal lamina three to four times as long as broad, 

 broadest beyond the middle, the apical third curving a little inward, roundly 

 truncate at tip, the upper posterior corner roundly angulate and slightly produced. 

 Sexual variation. — 



Measurements in Millimetres. 



Males (27). 



Females (17). 



Smallest 



Average 



Largest 



14-5 

 8 

 4-25 



3-1 



Smallest 



Average 



Largest 



Length of forewings 

 Length of antennae 

 Length of hind tibiae and tarsi 

 Length of fore tibiae and tarsi 



12 

 6-6 

 3-8 

 2.75 



13-25 



7-3 



4 



3 



13-25 



6-75 



4 



3 



14 

 7-25 

 4-25 

 3-4 



15 



8 



3-5 



Variation. — (1) Ab. fasciata, Streck., "Cat. Amer. Macro-Lep.," p. 101 (1878). — 

 In the row of spots in the middle of the outer half of the wing, each spot, though 

 perfectly distinct from the others, is expanded a very little exteriorly, and very 

 much interiorly ; the spots beyond the cell joining that which borders the outer limits 

 of the same; those in the median interspaces extending nearly, or quite, to the base 

 of the interspaces, and that of the medio-submedian interspace is, in one instance, 

 as long as broad, and in the other twice as long as broad, instead of being, as 

 normally, half as long as broad. On the undersurface, the wings have the normal 

 pattern, etc. (2) Ab. obliterata, Scudd., "Butts. New Engl.,"ii., p. 1001 (1889). 

 — In this there is a partial and nearly complete obliteration of the extra-mesial 

 spots of the front wing, both above and helow. One such specimen is figured by 

 Maynard (Butts. New. Engl., v., fig. 52a) with no spots at all. Curiously, the 

 most persistent of all the spots, whether above or below, is the upper of the two 

 beyond the cell, which is sometimes reduced to the merest dot of black (below, 

 encircled with white). The two cellular spots remain unchanged, etc. (3) Ab. 

 fulliolus, Hulst, "Ent. Amer.," ii., p. 182 (1886). — In this the coppery-red. is re- 

 placed by an equally glowing, somewhat sooty, yellow. [Scudder suggests that it corres- 

 ponds in hypophlaeas with the ab. schmidtii of phlaeas.] (4) An aberration (Bull. 

 Brooklyn Ent. Soc, ii., p. 8) with the undersurface of the hindwing on the right 

 side marked by red dashes, running from base to exterior margin (teste Scudder). 

 Egg. — Cells subcircular, but angulated, the largest about -19mm. in diameter, the 

 smaller about -1mm., excepting next the base, where they are only -045mm. broad ; 



