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MELITiEA ATHALIA. 

 The Heath Fitillary. 



Athalia, Esp. Athali'a, the daughter of Omai, King of Israel, and wife 

 of Jehoram, King of Judah — heroine of Racine's tragedy " Athalie." 



She is erroneously recorded in the " Accentuated list of the British 

 Lepidoptera," published in ]858, as being the daughter of Ahab. 



Like the last species, the wings on the upperside, are of a deep fulvous 

 tesselated with brownish black, but the black marks are broader, and the row 

 of dots on the hind- wings are wanting : the base of the wings also is often 

 much suffused with black. On the underside, the hind-wings are of a straw 

 colour, with two fulvous bands edged with black, but without any row of 

 black dots. Besides the absence of the distinct black dots so characteristic 

 of the underside of Cinxia, the two species may be readily distinguished by 

 the colour of the bands, which is very much paler in Cinxia than in Athalia. 

 The width across the wings is from an inch and seven lines to two inches 

 and two lines. 



This Fritillary varies much both on its upper and under surface. The 

 upper surface varies by being suffused with black scales to a greater or lesser 

 extent than in the normal form. In some specimens the wing is nearly all 

 black ; in others there is scarcely any black at all. The underside sometimes 

 has the straw-colour covering the greater part of the wing, while in others 

 there is more black than usual. 



Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties, all of which 

 are rare. 



Yar. b. Wings black above, with alternate transverse rows of whitish and 

 pubescent tessellations : the central band on the posterior wings beneath 

 composed of one row of yellowish elongate spots. 



Yar. c. Wings black above, with the two rows of fulvous tessellations 

 towards the hind margin of the anterior wings united. 



Yar. d. Wings black above with very small fulvous spots, those on the 

 outer margin wedge shaped, and the bases of all the wings above nearly 

 immaculate. 



Besides these there is the var. Eos, of Haworth, now in Mr. Stephen's 

 collection, and is said to be unique, but Mr. Bond has one very like it. The 

 upperside has a darker border on the hind margin, and the inside of the wings 

 suffused with the two colours : within the hind margin of the hind- wings is 

 a series of fulvous lunules, and a single fulvous lunule in the centre of each 

 hind- wing. The underside of the fore- wings has the black concentrated in 

 the middle, and the hind- wings have a broad pale band running across the 



