372 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Lowe, writing of the May and June insects from the same 

 district (Orta Novarese), in 1900, observes that they were of "quite 

 usual forms, except that an occasional 2 was taken with a great 

 increase of the caudation of the hindwings, and much suffused with 

 black, apparently var. eleus." The Spanish summer examples from 

 Cuenca, Moncayo, Bejar, Avila, Albarracin, etc., are very characteristic — 

 on the whole dark, the $ s well tailed, the spots of the submarginal 

 series on forewings united, the nervures dark, but particularly are 

 they noticeable for the absence of blue spots, scarcely any ever being 

 present in the Spanish $ s, and very rarely even in the 2 s, the latter, 

 though usually tailed, have a much more typical copper coloration 

 than the $ s. Of the variation of this species, in its still more 

 southern localities, there are many interesting records. Zeller, in 

 1847, wrote (lsis, xii., p. 39) of the Sicilian examples : 



"a. Vermis : alis anterioribus laete igneis, xnargine nigricante angustiore, 

 posteriorum margine vix unidentato. 



j8. Aestivus : alis anterioribus igneis nigrofumatis ; posterioribus subcaudatis. 



During the warmer months the species is very common everywhere 

 in Italy, and I found them most abundantly in the villages on Etna, 

 even beyond the forest region, on the flowers of Seneeio, so very 

 plentiful there. I caught the first specimen, a beautiful $ , in the 

 mountains near Messina, on February 15th, the first brood lasting till 

 the end of May ; the beginning of June ushered in the beautiful 

 second brood, distinguished by its much more splendid pure fiery tint, 

 like that which characterises the German specimens flying in May and 

 June, and usually those occurring in summer and autumn also ; on 

 the forewings the blackish band is narrow, the black dots small ; on 

 the hindwings the orange-red band is remarkably wide, and the hind- 

 marginal angle of the first branch of the median nervure hardly even 

 slightly prominent. This brilliant colour is lost in the hot summer 

 months. The black outer margin of the forewings then becomes wider, 

 reaches up to the spots, often overlaps them, and loses itself as a cloud 

 or shading, which darkens the most radiant part of the wing, the basal 

 third. This darkening is more marked in some specimens than in 

 others, and more complete in the $ than in the $ , and such 

 areas as are not absolutely covered lose their vividness and lustre, 

 particularly the areas directly before and behind the discoidal 

 spot, which are never completely covered. The black spots are 

 generally large, mostly without sharp outlines, and of a deeper black in 

 their centres than on their edges. On the hindwings the red band 

 narrows and shortens, whilst the hind marginal spots enlarge 

 and encroach still more on the band. The anal angle, however, 

 is enlarged and frequently develops into a small conspicuous tail into 

 which the red colour of the band throws a small tooth, whilst at its 

 tip are blackish hair-scales intermixed with a few whitish ones. On 

 the underside the different generations agree, only those examples 

 that have the darkest upperside, have the underside of the forewings 

 pale, whilst small light blue scales before the red band of the hindwings 

 are rare ; they occur, however, in both generations. I have already 

 noted (Z.si.s, 1840, p. 128) that dark phlaeas occur in Germany" (see 

 postea). Fletcher says (Knt., xxxviii., p. 318) that, in Malta, 

 "the species is abundant, and occurs throughout the year, although, of 

 course, only occasional examples are to be met with in the winter 



