358 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Ochsenheimer. It is extremely rare, although now becoming more frequent in 

 collections ; the specimen that I possess was caught by Schmidt, in a pasture at Eutin 

 (Gerhard). [The ab. schmidtii, Gerh., is the pale creamy form, not, as is generally 

 assumed by lepidopfcerists, the silvery-white one. Gerhard's pi. x., fig. 3a (upperside) 

 and fig. 3b (underside) have the ground colour pale cream, this tint supplanting the 

 ordinary copper colour, both on the forewings and the margin of the hindwing, the 

 dark parts of the wings— outer margin of forewings and base of hindwings — being 

 brown. Gerhard's reference of Hubner's figs. 737-738, our ab. hiibneri, and Esper's 

 pi. lx., fig. 5, our ab. alba, to his schmidtii is quite inexplicable, as neither of these 

 aberrations at all resembles the Eutin example that he figures under this name.] 



This aberration, in which the parts of the wing usually copper- 

 coloured are of a creamy tint (variously described as " straw-colour," 

 " pale yellow," and " intermediate between the- type and schmidtii" ), 

 is occasionally met with in Britain. An example of this form is 

 described in detail by South as follows : " The fore wing shining pale 

 straw-colour ; the costa is broadly black along the apical half, and 

 suffused with black along the basal half ; the outer margin is also 

 broadly black, and the spots are typical. Hindwings black ; marginal 

 band rather broader than usual, and of the same straw-colour as fore- 

 wings ; base of wings dusted with shining straw-coloured scales ; 

 fringes greyish-white ; undersurface of forewings pale straw, but 

 quite typical in all other respects ; of hindwings typical. Captured 

 by Sabine, September 7th, 1893, near Dartford." Of this form, 

 Chittenden notes (Ent., xxxiii., p. 317) the capture of a pale yellow 

 specimen at Ashford, Kent. Ruston records that, in August, 1873, 

 an example was taken at Chatteris, in which all those portions of 

 the wing, usually red, were of a light cream colour on the upperside, 

 the underside of a dull stone-colour, instead of reddish-brown as in 

 the type, which, however, it resembles in all other respects. Harpur- 

 Crewe records the capture of a straw-coloured specimen at Erwarton, 

 near Ipswich, in 1857 (teste Bloomfield, Lep. of Suffolk). Ken ward 

 exhibited at the meeting of the South London Entom. Society, held 

 January 12th, 1893, pale straw-coloured aberrations of phlaeas taken in 

 Kent during the year 1892. Kaye records the capture of a " yellow " 

 example on June 9th, 1902, on the shores of Caragh Lake, Kerry. 

 Harding notes the capture, at Church Stretton, September 9th, 1906, 

 of a specimen with the ground colour of a lovely creamy-silver, the 

 spots greatly enlarged and much clouded (Ent., xxxix., p. 235). 



5. ab. schmidtii-caudata, n. ab. — Of a pale creamy ground colour, with typical 

 markings, but the hindwings tailed. 



e. ab. cuprinus, Peyer., " Cat. des Lep. d'Alsace," 1st ed., p. 8 (1871); 2nd 

 ed., p. 23 (1880). — Pallide lutea. Paturages les plus eleves des Vosges — Hohneck, 

 Eotabac, etc., Basses-Rhin — vallee d'Andlau. 



One supposes this may be translated " pale yellow." Whether 

 this is a special mountain race or not is doubtful. It may have to be 

 referred to our ab. schmidtii. 



f. ab. intermedia, Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 153 (1896) ; Wheeler, " Butts, of 

 Switz.," p. 18 (1903). — Ground colour brassy, instead of bright coppery-red ; 

 markings as in the type (Tutt). 



This form is not at all uncommon, especially in the early brood, 

 and it has been repeatedly taken in various localities. Glover notes that, 

 at Guildford, the species is triple-brooded, the first brood always scarce, 

 and " the few specimens obtained of it so far, all agree with ab. 

 intermedia, Tutt, the forewings being brassy or golden, instead of 



