RUMICIA PHLAEAS. 353 



African forms. 



The species is common throughout northern Africa, where its 

 different forms of variation are essentially the same as those of 

 southern Europe, and must be considered therewith. Two African 

 forms appear to have been described, viz. : — 



a. var. phlaeoides, Staud., " Cat.," 3rd ed., p. 74 (1901). Phleas var., Baker, 

 "Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.," p. 200 (1891). — Alis posterioribus subtus fascia anti- 

 marginali dilutiore (cinerea) distincta. Madeira (Staudinger). 



Baker states (Tr. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1891, p. 200) that, in Madeira, 

 " the species is common ; the usual form of the species very dark, 

 both the wings being suffused all over with very dark scales. Paler 

 specimens are evidently rare, the ordinary ones being certainly darker 

 than var. eleus. I have before me specimens from almost every 

 country where it obtains, but, with the exception of one extraordinary 

 and almost black eleus from Broussa, none are as dark as the Madeira 

 insects." He adds iinlitt.): "I have about twenty Madeiran specimens, 

 the majority of which are the form phlaeoides, Staud., and, to my mind, 

 it is the finest form, though not the largest ; they are deep-red copper, 

 strongly suffused with bronzy-brown, with large dark spots, very broad 

 termen, and secondaries with the red border narrow, the spots below 

 on secondaries obsolete, their place being taken by a dark suffused 

 band. Two of the examples are almost like typical English specimens 

 as to their upperside, all the Madeiran specimens, therefore, not being 

 of the dark form. They all came from the hills, and were, no doubt, 

 all taken before mid- July." 



/3. var. pseudophlaeas, Lucas, " Ann. Ent. Soc. Fr.," p. 499 (1866) ; Auriv., 

 " Bhop. iEthiop.," p. 382 (1898). — This species (phlaeas) also inhabits Abyssinia, 

 but the specimens coming from this part of Africa are very remarkable on account 

 of the pale tint of the wings above and beneath, and are so far distinctly modified 

 by climatic influences as to form an excessively curious variety. This variety, 

 which might even form a distinct species near C. phlaeas, is distinguished by its 

 constantly pale ground colour, by the hollowing of the outer border which is 

 scarcely marked, and by the anal angle which terminates in a very prolonged tail, 

 and for it I propose the name of pseudophlaeas. 



Variation of the western forms. 



Our western (European and North African) phlaeas are subject to 

 considerable variation in size, colour, markings of the forewings, 

 markings of the hindwings, etc. In size, specimens vary from about 

 18mm. to 38mm., in wing expanse, both these measurements being- 

 extreme in opposite directions. Pfitzner records a $ only 20mm. in 

 expanse, taken in the Sprottauer Haide, August, 1898, whilst Hill notes 

 one taken at Sandy, in Bedfordshire, 21*9mm. in expanse, the same size 

 as the smallest noted by Frohawk (antea, p. 341). Those examples 

 under 22mm., however, we should consider very small and suggest 

 for them the name ab. minor, n. ab. ; those above 32mm. are ab- 

 normally large, and might be termed ab. major, n. ab. In ground colour 

 there are several shades. The well-known white form, ab. alba, has 

 long been erroneously called schmidtii; the brassy-coloured form is 

 known as intermedia ; the clear copper or golden-red is the typical phlaeas; 

 whilst it is suggested that the intense bright fiery-red form should 

 be known as ignita, n. ab. All these various colour forms may be, 

 themselves, subject to various modifications of markings, both in the 

 fore- and hindwings, and necessitate a combination of two aberrational 



