6 



The Naturalist. 



species of Colias with which I am acquainted are subject to a pale 

 variety of the female, though in some cases — as, for instance, in 

 Palceno, Linn. — the pale form seems to have become the type, and 

 the dark form the variety {Werdandi, H.S.).* The pale variety of 

 Edusa called Helice is well known, and Hyale has also a pale form of 

 the female which has as yet received no name. It used to be supposed 

 that all the light Hyale were females, and all the dark ones males, 

 but I think this notion has been laid on one side by most entomo- 

 logists. I have seen specimens of Hyale, from Abyssinia, of a beautiful 

 yellowish-orange tint, but whether they are all alike from the same 

 place I cannot say. The variety Sareptensis, Stgr., has the hind 

 margin of the hinder wings broadly black, and occurs — as its name 

 indicates — in South Russia. 



In the different species of Argynnis there are many varieties, the 

 best-known example with us being A. Paphia, var. Valezina, which is 

 a very dark form of the female of that insect, and not rare in the 

 New Forest. A. Adippe, var. Cleodoxa, and A. Niobe, var. Eris, are 

 each void of silver spots. Aglaia is subject to a variety called Char- 

 lotta, "which are dark females" (C.S.G.), and frequently have nine- 

 teen instead of twenty-one silvery spots on the underside of the hind 

 wings, several at the base being confluent. I think this is mentioned 

 by Newman. A. Adippe, var. chloradippe, H.S., is tinged with green 

 underneath the hind wings. This, Mr. Gregson tells me, occurs at 

 the Devil's Galop, North Lancashire. Variety Cleodoxa, I believe, 

 has been mistaken in Britain for Niohe, but Mr. Gregson showed me 

 an unmistakable specimen of Niobe, var. Eris, which he says he took 

 at the Devil's Galop. Of the MelitcBCB, Artemis has many named 

 varieties. Merope, Prun., is the alpine form ; it is smaller, more 

 distinctly marked, and not so greasy-looking as the type. It is found 

 on the Alps, and also in Scotland. f Hyhernica, Birchl., is the Irish 

 form, more woolly than the type, and the light spots near the apex 

 of the wing generally very distinct and often almost confluent — in 

 fact, divided only by the wing rays. 



Another variety — provincialis, Boisd. — is found in Central Europe, 

 " and at Lydgate, in Lancashire " (C.S. G.) I have had specimens 



* This is a variety of the female only, and therefore it is just the same as Edusa, 

 only the pale female of Paloeno being more abundant than the yellow, the former 

 is considered the proper form of the female. Probably all the Colias have pale 

 females ; I have one of Philodice from N. America. So with Hyale, the pale female 

 being commoner is considered true. — J. E. R. 



t I don't think the Scotch form is Merope. Hyhernica approaches M. cynthia. I 

 find Artemis varies in every different locality from those taken elsewhere. I have 

 some Hertfordshire specimens as large and very like provincialis. — J. E. R. 



