NEW SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF NORTH AMERICAN LEPIDOPTERA

Abstract

Melitœa Chalcedon, ab. fusimacula.— Variations of Chalcedon are very common, but the ones I now describe are so striking that they are certainly worthy of a varietal name, especially as they do not seem to be so very uncommon. In the first of these, to which I have given the name Fusimacula, there is a tendency to obliteration of the spots on discs of both wings, and to a fusion of the three outer rows of spots in a horizontal direction. The ground colour of the upper surface is of the same rich black as Chalcedon. There is a complete absence of the spots in the cells of both fore and hind wings in males, and there are but faint traces of them in the females. On the fore wings the fusion takes place as follows: The two outer rows unite to form a yellow band, which is joined at about its middle by a yellow demi-band from the costa, which is composed of the fusion of the two inner rows.