360 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



the bright ignita ground colour = ignita-caudata, are in our collection 

 from Aosta, mid-August, 1898 ; Bejar, 5 , July, 1902, etc. 



1. ab. purpureotincta, n. ab. — The ground colour of a deep copper hue, tinged 

 with purple. Marked like the type. 



Sabine records the breeding, in July, 1903, from larva3 found in the 

 Erith district, two examples of a very much darker copper hue, tinged 

 with purple on the basal half of the wings. 



Variation in markings of fore wings. 



a. ab. obliterata, Scudd., " Butts. New Engl.," ii., p. 1001 (1889). Phlaeas 

 var., Stphs., " Illus. Haust.," i., p. 80 (1828) ; Gerh., " Beit. Schmett.," pi. xxxix., 

 figs. Qa-b (1853). Phlaeas ab., Obtk, " Etudes," etc., p. 13, pi. v., fig. 72 (1896). 

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

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

 by Maynard {Butts. New England, pi. v., fig. 52a) with no spots at all, but the most 

 extreme case I have ever seen has some dots left. 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. (Scudder). 



Oberthiir combines {Etudes, etc., 1896, p. 13), under the description 

 "supra minus punctata," Scudder's ab. obliterata and our ab. bipunctata, 

 and says that, in this form, " the ordinary black submarginal spots of 

 the upper wings are disappearing ; the figures are taken (no. 72) from 

 a ? captured at Cancale in August, 1893, and (no. 73) from a still 

 more extreme $ , taken at Vernet (Pyrenees-Orientales) in July, 1894. 

 The individual figured by Gerhard (pi. xxxix., figs. 6a-b) belongs to this 

 aberration, but, in addition, appears to show a tendency to albinism, 

 since the normal fiery colour is replaced by a pale tint. Herrich- 

 Schaffer, however, had (Sys. Bearb., figs. 521-2) already figured the 

 same specimen, which Gerhard really only copied, and very badly 

 coloured." Oberthiir's fig. 73 is a very fine example of our ab. 

 bipunctata, only the discoidal spot and a small discal dot between this 

 and the base of the forewing being present; fig. 72 shows, in addition, 

 a trace of the submarginal series as tiny black points. It is Stephens' 

 var. y, which is described as having " the forewings of a pale rufous- 

 copper, with the spots very small, and several of the inner ones 

 obliterated." We captured an example, the ground colour, however, 

 of the intermedia form, in the Isle of Arran, August 15th, 1893, the 

 three spots forming the costal series, and the lowest one of the row, alone 

 being noticeable. Fowler records the capture of examples at Wimborne, 

 in 1888, with scarcely any spots at all. Crass captured an example at 

 Prestwich Carr, with several of the black spots on the forewings sup- 

 pressed. Hamm records similar specimens from the Reading district, 

 also in 1893, and exhibited an example at the meeting of the South 

 London Entomological Society, held May 24tb, 1891, in which the 

 usual black spots were represented only by three apical and two costal 

 dots (Proc 8th. Land. Knt. Soc, 1894, p. 39). 



(3. ab. bipunctata, 11. ab. Amerieanus var., Mayn., "Butts. New Engl.," v., 

 p. 41, fig. 52a (1880). Phlaeas ab., Obth., "Etudes," etc., pi. v., fig. 73 (1890).— 

 All the spots of the submarginal transverse row absent, the spotting of the forewings 

 restricted to the two in the discal cell. 



Oberthiir gives an excellent figure (Etudes, 1896, pi. v., fig. 73) of 

 this form, a $ , which was taken at Vernet-les-Bains in July, 1894. 

 Barrett observes that a British example with only two spots on the 



