6280 



Insects, 



in the soutlieni form of P. Agestis, the ocelli are the most brilliant, 

 having- the black centres large and perfect. Still this is not al- 

 ways so, for not only are some of those centres suppressed, but in 

 many cases one or more of the ocelli are entirely wanting. In our 

 own locality, where the connecting form P. Salmacis of Stephens 

 appears in any numbers, and where hundreds of specimens have 

 passed through my hands, the majority bear the impress of the southern 

 type, though few of them have the ocelli so brilliant as in specimens 

 from that part of England. These ocellated specimens are not con- 

 fined to such as have either the white or black discoidal spot on the 

 upper side, but seem to occur indiscriminately. By far the most 

 interesting variety I have yet seen of this butterfly is one in my own 

 cabinet, which I captured in July, 1856, at Castle Eden, having the 

 spot on the upper wing white, with a black centre. Underneath, the 

 only spots within the orange band on its upper wings, are the discoidal 

 — white, with a small black centre, — all the others being entirely 

 obliterated on one wing ; whilst, on the other, there is the sole addition 

 of a most minute one between the third and fourth nervures. On both 

 under wings, with the exception of the discoidal spot, and the usual 

 triangular blotch, every trace of ocelli within the same band is w^anting. 

 Taking next the Scotch form, we find, that although the great bulk of 

 the specimens have the black centres of the ocelli suppressed, still 

 they are not always so ; for not a few that I have examined possess 

 them, and it is probable that one of these latter specimens furnished 

 Mr. Stephens was his variety ^. We see, therefore, that the variation 

 of these ocelli, or spots, instead of furnishing a means of separating 

 P. Agestis from the P. Artaxerxes, in reality links them together, and, 

 by means of P. Salmacis, completes their identity. Thus we find all 

 the three points of supposed specific distinction fail when rigidly tested, 

 and the discovery of the larva of P. Agestis feeding on the Helian- 

 themum alone needed to settle the point beyond doubt or question ; for 

 Mr. Bond informs me he has in his cabinet a chrysalis of the southern 

 P. Agestis, which is exactly like one of P. Artaxerxes sent him by Mr. 

 Logan. Nor do I think this discovery at all unlikely. The domestic 

 habits, if the expression may be allowed, of the Polyommati are well 

 known to all entomologists. They never roam far from home, like 

 most of our butterflies, but confine their flight to a few yards around 

 their native places. Now, Mr. Logan has proved the connection that 

 exists between the larva of P. Artaxerxes and this plant, and I have 

 traced the range of it and our P. Salmacis in conjunction therewith 

 from Richmond to Kincardineshire. Let us notice how far a similar 



