RURALIS BETUL.E. 



281 



well -developed is distinctly rare, although faint traces of them, as 

 already noted, are seen in many. In some specimens, however, the 

 faint pale shades noticeable in most males, at the outer edge of the 

 disc, occupy occasionally nearly as much space as in the less strongly 

 marked females. The three spots figured by Gerhard (in most copies 

 of the work now badly discoloured) are one larger and two smaller, 

 and Staudinger diagnoses (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 71) it as " J . Alis anter. 

 mac. mag. conspicuis." Eaynor notes (in litt.) a specially well-marked 

 example with the two additional pale orange blotches beneath the usual 

 one, bred from Mundon, July 27th, 1901. We have examples from 

 the New Forest, Epping Forest, etc. Aigner-Abafi observes (in 

 litt.) that the aberration has only occurred in Hungary, up to the present 

 time, near Budapest, Lipik, and Eperjes. He adds that Dahlstrom has 

 reported that, at Eperjes, a female form occurs, with the characteristic 

 markings so reduced as to resemble somewhat this form, the orange 

 band being divided by the nervures into two or three spots. Blachier 

 observes (in litt.) that there is, in the "Reverdin coll.," a male, "with 

 three pale spots on the disc, one arising from the extremity of the 

 cell, two more faintly marked lower down ; captured August 13th, 

 1886, in the Zermatt Valley," and Anderegg records this aberration 

 from near Gam sen. Riihl only notes it from " Slavonia, end of July, 

 and Thuringia," but this must be more on account of its not being 

 recorded than its non-occurrence. One suspects that, as in Britain, 

 it occurs fairly often with the type on the continent. 



/3. ab. fisoni, Wheeler, " Butts. Switz.," p. 47 (1903).— A ? form with yellow 

 band, etc., instead of orange. Taken at Charpigny (Wheeler). 



Occurs occasionally in Britain. Eaynor notes one bred from 

 Mundon, July 30th, 1901. 



y. ab. -pallida, Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 203 (1896) ; Wheeler, " Butts. Switz.," 

 p. 47 (1903).— A cf in our collection has a white patch with two smaller white 

 spots beneath; a very rare aberration. New Forest. (Tutt). 



Asiatic races. 



The western and northeastern Asiatic examples differ little from 

 the eastern European, but those from the mountains of central 

 Asia assume apparently the ongodai form with dark ground colour 

 and rather limited pale markings in the female, and tending 

 distinctly to a yellow tint. The ■ Chinese races are, however, of 

 remarkable size, and elwesi exhibits, in the female, a very special 

 development of the orange colour, a colour that is largely adopted 

 by both sexes in all the other eastern species of the group. Romanoff 

 observes (Horn. Memoires, 1892, p. 147) that Radde is reported by Bremer 

 to have taken this species at the mouth of the Ussuri, and Graeser 

 also caught a female, on July 24th, 1889, near Chabarofka, but saw 

 it nowhere else in the Amur district. Dorries reared specimens from the 

 Sutschan district, in the Pamirs, which are almost like the European. 

 Romanoff further observes that he has a specimen from East Siberia, and 

 that it also occurs in West Siberia. Alpheraky notes (Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross., 

 xvi., p. 376) that he captured, in July and August, 1879, in the Kouldja 

 district, near Kounguesse, a constant form of this species of large size, 

 the females having the orange band wider than in European examples. 

 Staudinger says (Stett. Ent. Zeitg., 1881, p. 260) that, of twenty 

 specimens under examination, taken by Haberhauer in the Tarbagatai 

 and the Ala Tau, in July, 1877, although they differ somewhat, inter se, 



