RUMICIA PHLiEAS. 377 



August, together with the ordinary phlaeas. The fiery colour remains 

 purest on the forewings, before and behind the spot which lies on the 

 discocellular. The brown hindrnargin extends almost to the row of 

 black spots. The female, which may be considered as belonging to 

 this variety, has a less broad, brown margin, and besides the above 

 mentioned space, the space between the margin and the row of spots 

 remains pure fiery colour, though darker than usual." Nor must it be 

 confoundedwith melanophlaeas, Vill. and Guen., which, if the figure of 

 Oberthiir (Etudes, etc., 1896, pi. v., fig. 76) be trustworthy, has the whole 

 discal area, from the outer margin to the base, suffused with black, 

 the suffusion being brought about by the modification of the spots 

 into elongated longitudinal streaks, w T hich occupy the whole of this 

 area. Staudinger diagnoses it as " supra multo obscurior, al. post, 

 plerumque caudula parva." The form is distinguished from ab. 

 suffusa by the tails on the hindwings. Strand notes eight specimens 

 taken August 25th to September 17th, 1901, in the Suldal, which he 

 considers should be referred to eleus, F., although some differ but 

 little in colour from typical examples. One suspects that these latter 

 may be referable to ab. typica- can data (antea, p. 359). As to its 

 distribution in Britain little is known. 



e. ab. turcicus, Gerh., "Beit. Schniett.," p. 5, pi. v., figs. 5a (<?), b-c 

 (?) (1853); Obth., "Etudes," etc., pp. 13-14 (1396).— The specimens that I 

 figure were sent to me by Bischoff, of Augsburg, as ottomanus ; from the latter, 

 however, as well as from phlaeas, it is to be distinguished by its conspicuously dark 

 coloration (Gerhard). 



This aberration is described by Oberthiir (Etudes, etc., 1896, p. 14) 

 as having " the upper surface of the wings, except the marginal border 

 of the hindwings, which remains golden-red, suffused until it becomes 

 deep blackish-brown, giving the insect the appearance of a $ xanthe 

 (dorilis) from Paris ; this form is strongly developed in Syria, Trans- 

 caucasia, northwest India, and Japan, and transitional forms are not 

 rare in the Pyrenees-Orientales, Sierra Nevada, and Corsica ; one even 

 finds strongly developed turcicus near Paris and Rennes, but less 

 frequently than in the south." Our examination of Gerhard's figures 

 (5a, $ ; 5b, underside ; 5c, $ ) hardly bears this out. Our notes 

 read ; " The ground colour dull coppery ; the black parts suffused 

 with brown ; the copper very little suffused in $ , much more so in $ , 

 the latter having the copper colour confined to a longitudinal stripe 

 running from base to outer marginal band, and including the discal 

 spots, and the 2nd and 3rd of the three topmost spots belonging to 

 the submarginal transverse row that crosses the forewings ; the copper 

 band on the hindwings rather narrow and inclining to orange, not 

 bright red. The tails are well produced. The underside of forewings 

 dirty orange, the black spots ringed with white ; of hindwing uni- 

 colorous reddish-grey, darker on margin, no dots." The form ( $ ) really 

 differs little from eleus, Fab., only it has a band-like streak of copper 

 from base to outer margin, instead of the usual median patch, 

 narrowing basally and widening outwardly. Maintaining the name 

 for this limited form, we have examples from Italy — Susa, August, 

 1897, Crissolo, August 5th, 1901, Torre Pellice, August 7th, 1901 ; 

 from France — Arcachon, July, 1902 ; Spain — Moncayo, Bejar, Avila, 

 July, 1902, Bronchales, early August, 1901 ; Malta— July, 1897 ; 

 Syria — Beyrout, Servia — Belgrade, Austria — Orsova, July, 1898 ; 



