RUMICIA PHL^EAS. 367 



Asia." We cannot discover that Staudinger described this form. It 

 is the var. 5 of Stephens who diagnoses it as having " the hindwings 

 more or less spotted with blue towards the coppery band." This 

 form, with a row of blue spots just inside the coppery outer 

 marginal band of the hindwings, appears to be frequent in all the 

 races of the species found in the Old World. We have already quoted 

 (antea, pp. 334-335) Weismann's remarks thereon, and also Chapman's 

 (antea, p. 340), and we may here note that, in addition to the eastern 

 Asiatic races, Niceville observes (Butts, of India, p. 317) that, in India, 

 the var. stygianus usually has a series of 4 or 5 pale blue hastate spots, 

 directly above the inner edge of the coppery hindmarginal band of the 

 hindwing. They are also shown very strongly in Cramer's figure of 

 timeus, from Smyrna. In Europe, examples are recorded from Scandi- 

 navia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, and Spain, and it 

 is very frequently observed in the British Isles. We note that, on April 

 20th, 1903, at Locarno, almost all the specimens had a very strong 

 marginal series of red spots on the underside of the hindwings, and a 

 row of blue spots just inside the hindmarginal band on the upperside 

 (an example is reproduced in our pi. xiii., fig. 3), and, in our own 

 collection, we particularly note the blue dots in the spring form from 

 south France and the Riviera, Digne, Cannes, Auribeau, Hyeres, and 

 Albenga, in both sexes. The summer brood of Susa only shows the 

 spots in a small proportion of specimens, although, in one example 

 from here, there are some scattered blue scales, not only in the ordinary 

 position, but also nearer to the base ; they often occur in specimens of 

 the summer brood taken at Aosta, Torre Pellice, Crissolo, and also in 

 the same brood at St. Michel-de-Maurienne, St. Jean-de-Luz, Arcachon, 

 as well as on the Petit St. Bernard and the slopes of the Brevent in 

 August, where the species is probably only single-brooded; in Switzer- 

 land, examples with blue spots have been taken also, in August, in the 

 Saas-Thal, etc. The Malta specimens (March and August), and those 

 from Bey rout (May) are also well-marked in this direction. They are 

 almost entirely absent in Spanish examples, the $ s only occasionally 

 showing one or two small blue points, a $ from Bejar, taken in July, 

 1902, is the best in our Spanish series. They are also unaccountably 

 absent in a long series taken in Fontainebleau Forest in mid- August, 

 1899. Of the Scandinavian examples, Strand observes that, of some 108 

 examples taken in Suldal, in 1901, 57 belonged to the form which has 

 blue spots on the inner side of the marginal band of the hindwings; in 

 most of these examples, these spots are only weakly developed, some- 

 times scarcely visible without a lens ; in 51 they are absent. From this, 

 Strand concludes that about one-half of the individuals of the second 

 brood (to which all his captures belonged) are of the blue-spotted form. 

 Schneider, in his account of the Tromso phlaeas, says (Troms. Mus. 

 Aars., xv., p. 20) that, here, the blue spots along the hind-margin of 

 the hindwings are often strongly developed, and this is particularly 

 noticeable in most $ s, while they are often entirely wanting in the 

 $ s. Chapman notes the examples at Bodo as being very bright in 

 tint, and with blue spots on the hindwings; and those in our collection 

 taken at Bossekop, 1897, are particularly well-marked. The aberration is 

 common in Britain, although South asserts that the blue spots are rarely, 

 if ever, so large and conspicuous in British examples as they are in 

 specimens from eastern Asia. They are frequently mentioned in 



