KUMICIA PHL/EAS. 373 



months. Early spring specimens are typical, but the hindwings 

 beneath are generally greyer than in the north European form ; those 

 found from May onwards are referable to eleus." Mathew says that 

 the insect occurred in December, 1896, January and February, 1897, 

 and it was swarming when he returned to the island in July, 1897, the 

 specimens then being "large and dark, of eleus form." He further 

 notes that, " in Turkey, the insect is abundant at Gallipoli, Constanti- 

 nople, Salonika, and on the Asiatic shores of the Gulf of Ismid, Sea of 

 Marmora, and Dardanelles. Examples taken in spring and early 

 summer are usually similar to those obtained in England, but, in late 

 summer and autumn, they are mostly the dark form eleus of Fabricius. 

 At the island of Pachalimon, in the Sea of Marmora, on June 17th, 

 1878, a very hot day, this variety w T as met with in great abundance, 

 and they were such an extremely dark form that it gave the idea, 

 at first, that it was a new species. The island is full of deep little 

 ravines running from the interior to the beach, and here these butter- 

 flies had congregated in immense numbers to shelter from the intense 

 heat, and I often had more than a dozen in my net at a time (Ent. Mo. 

 Mag., vol. xviii.). In Gibraltar, he adds, it occurs throughout the year, 

 the early forms typical, the summer specimens dark and of the eleus form ; 

 so also in Crete and Corfu, and this is probably the case in all the 

 Mediterranean littoral localities." Walker similarly notes (in litt.) that, 

 " on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, Malta, Sicily, Tangier, 

 etc., the species occurs all the year round, the specimens taken from 

 late autumn to April being exceedingly like our ordinary summer 

 specimens, perhaps rather warmer in tone on the hindwings beneath, 

 whilst those taken in June and July are very pronounced eleus, 

 some with very little of the copper-colour remaining, the ground- 

 colour being almost entirely suffused with black. I think the 

 summer specimens are even darker in Malta and Turkey than 

 in Gibraltar." Nicholson observes (Ent., xxvii., p. 118) that 

 "the Corsican examples come close to eleus, but do not exhibit the 

 tails quite so conspicuously as the true eleus, and are considerably blacker 

 than eleus ; moreover, they do not appear to be temperature forms 

 like eleus, but rather a well-marked local race. They occur throughout 

 the season, and at various altitudes, the majority of the specimens 

 examined coming from the slopes of Pointe Ceppo, just above 

 Vizzavona, where the mean temperature would be decidedly below 

 that of the south of England." Mathew observes (in litt.) that 

 " examples captured in Madeira and Teneriffe in the spring, are a trifle 

 larger and brighter than English specimens, but, at Madeira, in the 

 fall of the year, I have seen them almost as dark as var. eleus.'" 

 Mrs. Holt-White (Butts, of Teneriffe, p. 42) says that "some specimens 

 have been found much darker in colour than those described, the 

 difference being so great as to suggest the possibility of a distinct 

 variety." Bethune-Baker notes (in litt.) that, "in June, at Guelma, in 

 Algeria, the specimens were eleus with large spots, the hindwing below 

 very soft and pale with evanescent markings. The Asia Minor examples 

 vary considerably, those taken in Brussa are very dark." Of the latter 

 he has a series of some 20 specimens taken in June, July, and 

 September, and he says that these are the darkest he has, "the copper, 

 when visible, pale in colour, the spots suffused and large, the spotted 

 band on the primaries largely confluent. In three specimens there is 



