Later, he figures the fossil and refers it doubtfully to Junonia, appending the following remarks:[Z]—

This species is very simple in its markings (Pl. II, fig. 17), the whole upper surface, excepting a broad space next the outer border of the fore wings (the equivalent part of the hind wings is not preserved) being of an uniform dusky tint; a broad belt of a lighter shade margins the (fore) wings, growing less distinct from the darker base above the next to the lowest subcostal nervule; this belt darkens toward the outer border, especially in slight dusky fleckings along the nervures and down the middle of the interspaces; the latter streaks reach small, round, blackish spots about one-quarter the width of the interspaces, in the middle of the basal two-thirds of their lighter parts. Heer represents them too far from the outer margin of the wing, and as often crowned above with a dark semicircular line, which is not at all indicated in the drawing made for me; these spots are found in all the interspaces below the outermost superior subcostal nervule, but they are very indistinct and minute above, faint below and only distinct and as large as stated in the three interspaces next above the lowest median nervule. The light belt is two interspaces wide in the upper median interspace, but widens a little above this and is separated from the darker base by a vague and very slightly crenate line (less crenate than in the representation by Heer), which approaches the outer margin at the nervures and to a slightly greater extent in the lower part of each interspace than in the upper.

Pierids with so dark a coloring as appears in this fossil are not unknown, particularly in the genera Archonias and Pereute; compare for example the figure given in Doubleday and Hewitson’s Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera, Pl. V, fig. 2. And that markings of this character are not unknown, compare some species of Ixias, Hebomoia and allied genera; if the colors of Hebomoia Leucippe, as given by Doubleday and Hewitson, were reversed, the resemblance to Pluto would be rather close; and while light spots in a dark border are the rule in this subfamily, dark spots on a light ground are not unknown, and the reversal of tints is a not uncommon occurrence in nearly related Lepidoptera.

A second fossil, which I have been unable to see or to have redrawn, is given by Heer as probably representing the under surface of the same insect. His remarks are as follows:[AA]—

As far as the neuration is concerned (excepting that of the costal nervure, which is certainly incorrectly rendered, and does not accord with the description) it agrees sufficiently with the general neuration of Mylothris[AB] to suppose it may belong to the allied genus Mylothrites, but that it can belong to M. Pluto is exceedingly improbable, as one may judge by tracing the probable extent of the broken hind wing, and placing the tracing in juxtaposition with the fore wing of Pluto, as in the accompanying woodcut (fig. 1); for it must be remembered that in all the genera of this subfamily, the cell extends at least to the middle of the wing; the hind wing of M. Pluto must, therefore, have certainly been fully one-sixth longer than the wing conjectured to belong to it; so great a difference is at least unusual among individuals of the same species in this group; moreover, the neuration is not quite what we should expect, although the appearance of veins on the drawing we have reproduced must be in part due to extraneous causes; we will, therefore, make no attempt to decipher the present condition of the fossil, trusting that some of the Austrian lepidopterists will give the subject early attention.

A study of the original description and illustration of the front wing of this butterfly leads me to the conclusion that the description of the neuration of the fossil was drawn up from the illustration and not from the fossil itself. Both agree in the points in which my drawing (Pl. II, fig. 7) differs from them; and since in these very points they will not harmonize with the neuration of any living Lepidoptera, while the drawing I present agrees as well as could be desired with certain of them, I am forced to believe the original drawing published by Heer, and the accompanying description, presumably founded upon it, to be incorrect. I am acquainted with but very few living butterflies[AC] in which a nervule is emitted from the inferior side of the subcostal nervure nearer the base of the wing than any of the superior nervules of the same vein; this is the manner in which the neuration of this butterfly is represented in Heer’s plate and in his description, if read carefully in connection with the plate; although he does not tell us on which side of his zweite Hauptast his dritte Hauptast originates.

The description given by Heer of the markings of the fore wing is more complete than I have been able to offer from an inspection of drawings alone; it differs, too, in one somewhat important point, in that what I have called a broad lighter belt with blackish dots in each interspace, he has described as a series of pale circular spots as broad as the interspaces, each containing a blackish pupil. A reëxamination of the fossil upon this point is desirable; the only indication of such circular pale spots in my drawing is the curved boundary in each interspace between the darker and lighter portions.

Tertiaries of Radoboj, Croatia. Fore wing, Hof-Mineralien Kabinet, Vienna. Hind wing, Museum of Gratz, Austria.

COLIATES Scudder.

The fore wing (Pl. II, fig. 5) is slightly more than twice as long as broad; the costal border is straight for fully two-thirds its length, and then curves gradually and slightly downward, the apex rounded off; the outer margin has a nearly regular and slight convexity, but is nearly straight in the middle half; the lower outer angle is rounded and the inner margin slightly convex. The costal nervure scarcely reaches the middle of the costal border; the discoidal cell is but little more than half the length of the wing; the subcostal nervure has but two superior branches, although the outer is not only itself forked, but its upper fork is branched at the extreme tip of the wing; the first superior nervule is emitted at some distance previous to the tip of the cell, or opposite the base of the first median nervure; it terminates in the middle of the outer half, of the costal margin, and the forked branch of the outer superior nervule supports the extreme apex of the wing; the inferior subcostal nervule arises midway between the bases of the two superior nervules, and terminates about one-third way down the outer border; the vein closing the cell strikes it near the base and has an inward convexity, meeting the upper median nervule farther from its origin; the first median nervule originates at some distance beyond the middle of the cell.

In the form of the wing and its neuration this fossil group is more nearly allied to Delias (Pl. II, fig. 4) than to any other genus I have been able to examine. It is plain at first glance that it must be placed in the vicinity of Delias, Thyca, Prioneris and similar East Indian Fugacia, in which there are but two superior subcostal nervules, and in which the outer of these is forked; but I have met with no instance among these in which one of these forks is itself branched; and this insect differs notably from them all in the elongate form of the wing, the remarkably straight costa[AD] and the shorter discoidal cell; and from all Pierids in the shortness of its costal nervure and the basal extension of the first superior subcostal nervule; this latter nervure always originates, in every living type I have examined, at or beyond a point opposite the middle of the space between the bases of the first and second median nervules.

COLIATES PROSERPINA Scudder.

Plate II, fig. 5.

The fossil to which I have given this name is exceedingly obscure, having no color whatever distinct from the stone in which it is imbedded; this is of a chalky gray color. I have seen both impression and reverse, the latter a little in relief. The fossil consists of both anterior wings, one beneath and slightly in advance of the other, thus complicating very greatly the study of the already indistinct neuration; in addition to this the wings are crumpled and additional longitudinal lines are present, scarcely distinguishable from the longitudinal nervures. On this account it should be stated that there may be some doubt about the exact position of the lowest three branchlets of the subcostal nervure. The stone has been broken next the edge of the wing, and its form can thus be traced where the real border is wanting, although again the drawing presented may be slightly inaccurate next the inner margin; but the probabilities are great that it is correct throughout. The spots which are represented on our plate in the middle of the lower median, subcosto-median and lower subcostal interspaces, are only irregularities of surface on the stone, but as they appear in regular position are not improbably dark spots, upon a light ground. A few points for the insertion of the scales can be detected near the apex of the wings, ·075mm. apart. The neuration of the fossil agrees better with that of Delias Pasithoe than with that of any other butterfly I have examined. Length of wing, 21mm.; greatest breadth, 9mm..

Tertiaries of Aix, Provence, France. Collection of Count de Saporta.

PAPILIONIDÆ—DANAI—VORACIA.

PONTIA Fabricius.

Fore wings fully three-quarters as long again as broad, the costal margin slightly convex at the basal and apical fifth, scarcely bent at an angle with the nearly straight middle portion, the outer angle abrupt but softened. Outer margin nearly straight and inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees with the middle portion of the costal border, above the middle subcostal nervule receding slightly in a gentle curve. Inner margin straight, the outer angle well rounded. Costal nervure terminating a little beyond the middle of the margin. Subcostal nervure with three superior branches; the first arising shortly before the middle of the outer half of the cell, a little nearer the apex of the cell in the female than in the male; the second arising scarcely (male), or a very little (female), beyond the tip of the cell; the third emitted at about two-fifths the distance from the apex of the cell to the outer margin, forked at the extreme tip in the male. Cell half as long as the wing and nearly four times as long as broad.

The butterflies are scarcely larger than those of the genus Pieris, but have more pointed fore wings; like them they are white, but extensively spotted with deep brown; the fore wings have a broad bar at the tip of the cell, and midway between this and the outer border a widely interrupted transverse series of similar but smaller spots; the outer border, especially the upper half, is also more or less distinctly margined with triangular, frequently confluent spots seated in the interspaces; these occur more often in the female than in the male.

The characters given above are drawn wholly from recent species of the genus.

PONTIA FREYERI (Heer) Scudder.

Plate II, figs. 16, 18.

The original description of this insect we owe to Heer; it is as follows:[AE]—

This insect evidently belongs to the genus Pontia, judging from the disposition of the markings of the upper surface of the fore wings (Pl. II, fig. 18); this is the only thing we have here to guide us, although the drawing made for us in Vienna seems to show that with great pains the neuration of at least a part of the apex might be traced and lead to more positive determination. The fossil species seems best comparable with P. Protodice (Pl. II, fig. 12) of N. America, although, as suggested by Heer, most nearly resembling P. Daplidice, of European species. The dark spot at the apex of the cell appears to cover a larger area than in P. Protodice, extending with equal breadth almost to the costal margin, and also covering a considerable space at the base of the subcosto-median interspace, equal indeed to the entire width of the portion of the spot within the cell. The region below this spot, next the base of the lower median interspace, is also rather faintly suffused with griseous tints. The precise extent of the subcostal spots midway between the cell and the apex cannot be determined, owing to the imperfect state of the fossil; but they evidently form a connected series as much larger than the similar spots in P. Protodice as the cellular spot, and extend from the costal margin to the lowest subcostal nervures, expanding considerably baseward in the upper half of their course. There is no spot in the upper median interspace, as in P. Protodice, but, instead, a precisely similar one in the middle of the apical three-fifths of the lower median interspace, where it does not occur in P. Protodice; and this affords the principal ground for supposing the insect to be generically distinct from Pontia, no distinctive premarginal spot occurring in this interspace in any species of Pontia which we have seen. The dusky premarginal fleckings of the nervures terminating on the outer border, often enlarging into distinct spots, which are so usual in Pontia, especially in the upper half of the wing, are also absent from the fossil species; but in their place the whole outer margin appears to be almost uniformly, though not heavily, griseous, a little more distinctly so in the upper than in the lower half of the wing. The spot just beyond the middle of the medio-submedian interspace, distinct in P. Protodice, but deepest in shade on the lower half of the interspace, and in other species sometimes wholly confined to it, is seen in the fossil species, but is far less distinct, confined to the lower half and situated exactly in the middle. There are indications also of dark markings following the basal third of the submedian nervure; and apparently the basal half of the costal edge, as far as the costal nervure, is darker than any part of the wing, excepting in a sudden and rather broad, distinct break in its middle. This darker portion is considered by Heer as the femur of one of the legs, superimposed upon the base of the wing; perhaps, however, this is due to an accidental folding of the wing at this point, which seems the more probable, because if we suppose this darker portion to be turned back, the curve of the costal border would approximate much more closely to its condition in P. Protodice; while its present form is much straighter, exhibiting only a very slight and regular convexity. As far as can be judged from the fragment, the form of the other parts of the wing coincides with that of P. Protodice.

As in all species of Pontia there is a slight wrinkling of the membrane in the interspaces, forming slight channels running from the outer border inward, nearly to the depth of two interspaces, indicated in the fossil by dark lines as heavy as the nervures, and caused by their filling with sedimentary material. The extreme length of the part of the wing preserved is 24mm. and the greatest width 22.5mm.

The markings lead one to conjecture that the individual was a male.

PAPILIONIDÆ—PAPILIONIDES—PARNASSII.

THAITES Heer, MS.

Body rather robust (Pl. III, figs. 9 and 10). Vertex of head large, broad, convex. Eyes pretty large, short ovate, their longer diameter vertical. Palpi (Pl. III, fig. 7) slender, resembling those of Thais, but rather longer, extending far beyond the eye, rather thinly clothed with hairs. Antennæ (Pl. III, fig. 8) resembling those of Sericinus more than those of Thais, being about half as long as the body, slender and equal on the basal three-fifths, gradually expanding beyond into a club, which is more than twice as broad as the stem, and stoutest just before the well rounded, slightly upturned tip; in the middle of the antennæ the joints are half as long again as broad, broader than long at the base of the club, and three or four times as broad as long in the middle of the club and beyond; on the apical half of the club, and perhaps a little further, the joints of the club are furnished with a double row of minute shallow pits, such as are seen in Eurymus. The tongue was at least as long as the thorax.

The thorax is well arched and pretty stout; the paraptera (Pl. III, fig. 6) are a little more than twice as long as broad, their outer edge nearly straight, the posterior extremity broad and well rounded. The legs are not well enough preserved to state anything concerning them with certainty, but the middle (?) pair are probably of the length of the antennæ.

The fore wings (Pl. III, fig. 3) are only a little more than half as long again as broad, the greatest breadth beyond the middle; the costal border is pretty regularly and not greatly arched throughout; the outer margin is more strongly arched but with a similar regularity, and the general direction of its upper half is at right angles to the outer third of the costal border, the apex scarcely rounded off; the inner border is nearly straight. The proportions of the hind wing, as to length and breadth, are nearly the same as those of the fore wings, making it unusually long and narrow, as in Thais (Pl. III, fig. 4), and also, as there, nearly as broad toward the base as at tip. The costal border is rather strongly convex next the base of the wing, but beyond is nearly straight, sloping apically so as to make a uniform curve with the outer border, which is almost entire as in Parnassius (Pl. III, fig. 5), rather than as in Thais (Pl. III, fig. 4), strongly arched, especially near the last median nervule, and angulated below where it meets with the regularly and broadly concave inner margin.

In the neuration of the fore wings (Pl. III, fig. 1) this genus is peculiar for the shortness of its cell, which is less than half as long as the wing, and is broadest in the middle of its distal half, beyond which it narrows rather rapidly. The costal nervure terminates a little before the middle of the outer two-thirds of the costal border. The subcostal nervure emits two superior branches before the tip of the cell; the first is thrown off near the middle of the outer half of the cell and terminates as far beyond the tip of the costal nervure as it is beyond the middle of the costal border; beyond the emission of the first superior nervule the subcostal nervure curves downward away from the costal nervure, with which it had hitherto been parallel, and throws off the second superior nervule shortly before the apex of the cell; this nervule terminates exactly at the apex of the wing, but, just before the tip, divides, sending a short branch to the outer border; about two-fifths of the distance from the tip of the cell to the outer border, the subcostal nervure divides into two branches which reach the outer border near the middle of its upper half; the inferior subcostal nervule leaves the nervure nearly at right angles, but almost immediately turns and runs subparallel to it and its lower ultimate branch. The median nervure throws off its first nervule a little beyond the middle of the cell; its second midway between this and the base of the fourth, and the third midway between its two neighbors; beyond the emission of the second nervule the nervure bends upward, and still more on throwing off the subsequent one; the first two nervules are straight, the upper two arched, and the base of the last is united to the short basal fragment of the inferior subcostal nervule by a curving vein opening outward, whose general course is nearly at right angles to the costal border.

In the hind wing the relation of the cell to the length of the wing is as in the front pair; it is broadest at the first divarications of the bordering nervures and narrows rapidly beyond. The first branches of the subcostal and median nervures are emitted near the middle of the distal half of the cell, and that of the subcostal is a nearly straight continuation of the basal portion of the nervure; the outer subcostal and median nervules are twice as close at base as any of the others, and the middle nervules divide the space between the first and third; the submedian nervure is parallel to, and scarcely removed from, the inner border.

In the pattern of their markings (Pl. III, fig. 3) the wings of Thaites are rather simple. The fore wing is provided with four nearly equidistant, nearly straight, transverse, pale stripes, depending at about right angles from the subcostal nervure, unequal in length and width, the third from the base situated in the middle of the wing; and also with a submarginal curving row of moderately large, transversely ovate spots, one in each interspace opening on the outer border, excepting the subcosto-median and medio-submedian interspaces, all ranged in a series curving more strongly than the outer border. The hind wing is nearly uniform on the basal half, but beyond is crossed by transverse, curving, dark, cloudy bands, broadening on the nervures and enclosing between them roundish or transversely ovate pale spots.

The abdomen is stout, half as long as the hind wings, well arched, and the terminal segment (of the female?) half as long as broad, the segments provided with a latero-dorsal and pleural row of very small, vertically ovate, pale spots.

This genus differs from Thais (Pl. III, figs. 2, 4) and the other genera allied to the swallow-tails in about the same degree as they do among themselves. It is closely allied to Thais in most particulars; the antennæ resemble those of Thais, more than they do those of other genera, if we except only Sericinus; in the form of the wings it lies midway between Thais and Archon; as to neuration the discoidal cell of the fore wings has the form seen in Sericinus, being broadest apically, while in Parnassius (Pl. III, fig. 5), Thais and Eurycus it is largest in the middle; but it is shorter than half the length of the wing, while in Sericinus, as in all the other genera, it is considerably more than half the length of the wing; the tip of the cell is limited above, in most of these genera, by the vein closing the cell; that is, the inferior subcostal nervule originates beyond the tip of the cell; but in Thais it originates at the tip of the cell, while in Thaites the cell is limited by the inferior subcostal nervule and the vein closing the cell originates from it; in other particulars of its neuration it resembles the tailed Sericinus.

In design (Pl. III, fig. 3) Thaites recalls none of the recent genera very closely. In the fore wings it approaches Thais (Pl. III, fig. 4) rather than the others, and in the hind wings some species of Parnassius (Pl. III, fig. 5). It has none of the eccentric spots of Parnassius and a darker ground than any of the modern types. It is wholly unprovided with the strongly marked crescentic spots of Thais, but in the position, form and arrangement of the principal markings rather recalls Archon. Excepting Eurycus and some species of Thais, no modern genera resemble Thaites in the extension of a distinctive pattern upon the hind wings to or nearly to the extremity of the cell. Whether any of the markings were accompanied by the brilliant spots often seen in Thais, Archon and Parnassius cannot be determined, but we may presume that they were not, since in these genera the markings are dark upon a lighter ground, while in Thaites they are light upon a dark ground,—a combination found among the Papilonid genera, only in some of the swallow tails.

In the markings of the abdomen, I do not know that we find anything parallel to Thaites among the Parnassians, but among the neighboring Equites there are similar examples of rows of small light spots on a dark ground. I have not been able, however, to examine this point carefully.

THAITES RUMINIANA Heer MS.

Plate III, figs. 1, 3, 6-10.

The wings were evidently dark with light markings. On the fore wings the first transverse stripe (Pl. III, fig. 3) extends from the subcostal nervure, midway between its first divarication and the base of the wing, almost to the middle of the basal two-thirds of the inner border; it is slender, nearly equal and straight, the portion within the cell about four times as long as broad; the second transverse band is the largest, and lies midway between the first and the third, parallel to them, reaching from the subcostal nervure almost to the inner border; it is straight and equal, and the portion within the cell (which is half of the whole, although traversing the cell at its broadest part) is three times as long as broad; the third transverse bar is in the middle of the wing, smaller than the first and equally slender, extending from the subcostal nervure, just beyond the tip of the cell, almost to the upper median nervule; it is equal and straight excepting above, where it curves inward following the border of the cell; the outermost is broader and more irregular, depending from the first superior subcostal nervule and extending nearly to the upper median nervule, so that its exterior border just strikes the subcostal nervure at its divarication far beyond the cell; the inner margin is straight and the spot thus forms a transverse bar, straight and equal above the subcostal nervure, but with the outer border sloping away so that the lower extremity is twice as broad as the upper. The submarginal series of spots are of nearly equal size, the uppermost largest, the next two smallest; each set of three forms a nearly straight line, but all together they follow a strong curve which approaches close to the border in the lowest subcostal interspace, being separated from it by but its own width; above this they recede rapidly from the border, the outer edge of the innermost being next the fork of the second superior subcostal nervule; but below, the spots are parallel to the outer border and separated by about an interspace’s width from it; the upper spots are transversely broad ovate; the lower transversely subquadrate; apparently the fringe is exceedingly short and concolorous as in Parnassius.

The basal parts of the hind wing are almost uniformly dark, excepting that there is a paler suffusion in the outer part of the cell; beyond, the wing is clouded with darker, transverse, strongly curving, powdery stripes; the most conspicuous of these is one which crosses the wing a little outside the middle of the portion beyond the cell; it takes its rise in a darker spot, which borders the wing just above the tip of the upper subcostal nervure, and runs in a nearly straight line, widening as it goes, to the lowest subcostal nervule, where it reaches its greatest width, and scarcely narrowing curves around to the inner border a little before its tip; on the nervules it reaches further baseward and borderward. Between this belt and another similar but much less conspicuous band, half way between it and the tip of the cell, are enclosed circular pale spots, one occupying the entire width of each interspace below the middle subcostal nervule and a portion of the one above it; following the principal dark band are two alternating sets of dark and light, narrow, inconspicuous, transverse stripes, more or less confused in the middle of the wing, the dark bands broadening and deepening at the nervures, breaking the paler bands to a greater or less extent into broad transverse spots; the fringe appears to be as on the fore wings. Judging from the form of the last abdominal segment, and the great size of the abdomen, this specimen was probably a female. Length of fore wing, 25mm.; breadth of the same, 14·3mm.; length of antennæ, about 6mm.; breadth of antennæ in middle of stem, ·2mm.; breadth of antennæ toward tip of club, ·5mm..

Tertiaries of Aix. Collection of Professor Heer; Zurich, Switzerland.

URBICOLÆ—HESPERIDES.

THANATITES Scudder.

Very much of the general appearance of Thanaos Boisd. (Pl. III, fig. 11) but with somewhat differently formed wings and markings which will not accord with those of the latter genus, although the two genera are certainly nearly allied.

The body (Pl. III, fig. 12) is fully as stout as in Thanaos (Pl. III, fig. 11), the tongue at least as long as the thorax, the eyes ovate and larger, than in Thanaos, and the palpi with the terminal joint proportionally larger, which is an unusual feature in the Urbicolæ. The legs are apparently short, the wings ample. The costal margin of the fore wings is nearly straight, being scarcely arched on the apical half, the upper half of outer border as in Thanaos, the rest not preserved; the costal fold of the male is narrow and extends a very little beyond the middle of the costal border, while in Thanaos it reaches considerably further; the hind wings have the general shape of Thanaos, but the upper outer angle is much more produced, and the base of the costal border is arched only to the degree that the apex is, and the portion between them is but slightly convex; the outer border is almost precisely as in Thanaos and the inner border is, doubtless, folded in the fossil so as to conceal its true character. Very little of the neuration can be determined, and what can be made out is comparatively unimportant and agrees with the neuration of Thanaos; the third superior subcostal nervule strikes the apex of the fore wing as in that genus. As to the markings, the agreement with Thanaos is less striking, although the pattern resembles that of Thanaos more closely than it does that of any other genus. In the fore wings the spot in the cell of Thanaos is wanting in the fossil, but in its stead there is a costal spot at the extremity of the costal fold; the subapical spots of Thanaos depending from the costa are distinctly repeated in Thanatites, and in addition there is a submarginal series of small round spots of which the upper two, in the uppermost interspaces opening on the outer border, are the only ones visible on the fossil by its mode of preservation. On the under surface of the hind wings of Thanatites, there is a regular submarginal series of equal, rather small, round spots, one in each interspace, placed between the location of the marginal and submarginal spots which occur in Thanaos, often distinctly, occasionally as faint blurred bands, as in T. Juvenalis (Pl. III, fig. 11); the inner of these two series in Thanaos, which corresponds best to the submarginal series of Thanatites, is irregular instead of parallel to the border, being always bent inward opposite the cell. Instead of the spot, placed in the costo-subcostal interspace of Thanaos near the middle of the wing, and seen distinctly in T. Juvenalis, there are two spots, which, with a third near the base of the wing above the costal nervure, are placed at equal distances apart and from the costal border; in addition there are two spots, seldom even indicated in Thanaos, near the centre of the wing, the larger of which is near the apex of the cell. These differences alone would suffice to show that the fossil cannot be referred to Thanaos, and, with the other indications we have given, compel us to place it apart, but in the immediate vicinity of this group of Urbicolæ.

THANATITES VETULA (Heyden) Scudder.

Plate III, figs. 12, 16.

The only notice of this insect that has been published is the original figure and description of von Heyden. The figure is reproduced in our Pl. III, fig. 16. The description is as follows:[AF]—

Dark brown or blackish with light markings. On the upper half of the fore wing (Pl. III, fig. 12), both above and below, the following markings are found: a small quadrate spot on the costal border at the extremity of the costal fold; depending from the costal border between the tips of the second and third superior subcostal nervures a confluent series of spots extending to the cell at right angles to the costal margin, narrowing a little in passing downward; and midway between this and the outer border, in the upper two subcostal interspaces opening on the outer border, a small round spot; probably similar spots belong in some of the interspaces below. On the under surface of the hind wings there is a submarginal series of three small spots along the costa at equal distances apart, the central one near the middle of the costa, and the basal one nearly midway between it and the base of the wing; there is also a larger spot near the tip of the cell and a second smaller one a little below and beyond it; also a submarginal series of spots as large as that in the cell parallel to the outer border, at about an interspace’s distance from it, one in each interspace. Length of fore wing, 14mm.; length of hind wing, 13·65mm.; extreme breadth of hind wing, 11·25mm..

The single fossil represented by von Heyden under the name of Vanessa vetula, is preserved on a greasy, dark brown, thin and exceedingly fragile sheet of “brown coal,” and is likely to become so affected by weathering as to be almost or quite indistinguishable in the course of time. Indeed it is excessively obscure at the present time, and no fossil object I have ever studied has proved so difficult to decipher as this. It represents an insect (Pl. III, fig. 12) lying upon its side in a somewhat natural attitude (compare fig. 11), so that one can see the whole of the under surface of the left hind wing, the costal quarter of the under surface of the left fore wing, and a little more than a quarter of the upper surface of the right fore wing, also of the costal area; the thorax and head with the eyes, the denuded palpi, the partially unrolled tongue and fragments of the legs in a confused medley may also be seen, but there is no trace of the antennæ, nor of the right hind wing (nor of the abdomen?). The left hind wing has an immaterial part of its outer border removed, and a small portion of the outer border of the left fore wing is also wanting, but the corresponding portion of the right fore wing is present. The markings can only be made out by extreme care, and a very meagre portion of the neuration, especially toward the borders of the wings, by great patience and the closest examination; but most of what can be seen of the neuration adds but very little to our actual knowledge of the animal; it simply adds its testimony in the same direction as other features of the object.

The illustration of von Heyden (Pl. III, fig. 16) is faulty in several particulars, but this is not surprising when we consider the excessively obscure nature of the fossil; it represents the insect as if the under surface of both wings of one side were seen, the fore wing concealing a portion of the hind; a break in the stone is taken for the outline of the wing (just above the extremity of the costal border of the hind wing) and the markings of the two front wings are blended into one; an abdomen is represented and above it an outline of the inner border of the hind wing. The fossil has at first sight this appearance, but I think this view is erroneous, although on this point one may not speak with confidence, and it is comparatively unimportant. It is remarkable, however, that von Heyden, in his description, takes the same view of it as I have done. I have not attempted to give the shading of the darker parts of the wing, partly from its obscure nature, partly from a doubt whether they really represent the original markings of the insect; for the basal half of the under surface of the hind wings, where most of the dark mottling in Von Heyden’s figure occurs, is usually devoid of any such variegation in the insects of this group; they are almost always of a uniform grayish or brownish hue. Von Heyden’s figure does not show the division of the palpal joints.

Tertiaries of Rott, Rhenish Provinces of Germany. British Museum.

URBICOLÆ—ASTYCI.

PAMPHILITES Scudder.

This genus belongs to the Astyci and falls in the neighborhood of Pansydia and Carystus, if we take as an illustration of the latter group the Hesperia Lucasii of Fabricius. The former genus has a male with a discal dash, the latter without one. As the fossil species is represented by a single fore wing of what is probably a female, it is impossible to say into which category it would fall. The costal border (Pl. III, fig. 18) is almost exactly straight throughout; next the base, however, it is arched a little and it slopes slightly downward on the apical fifth to a rather sharply defined apex; the outer margin is gently and almost regularly convex, but with its greatest convexity a little above the middle, and at its upper end is at right angles to the tip of the costal margin; the lower angle is rounded off and the inner margin is slightly sinuous, being hollowed in the middle; the wing is slightly more than twice as long as broad. In all these respects it agrees far better with Pansydia (Pl. III, fig. 15) than with Carystus (Pl. III, fig. 13). Indeed, excepting in the greater length of the wing and the lack of any change of direction in the outer border at the tip of the lowest median nervule, the form of the wing scarcely differs from that of Pansydia Mesogramma.

In neuration it agrees better with Pansydia than with Carystus. Poey’s figure, which for want of better material I have been forced to copy in illustration, is not executed with sufficient care, for of the first and second superior subcostal nervules he has made but one. The principal difference between Pansydia and the fossil genus is in the fourth superior subcostal nervule; in Pansydia this terminates upon the costal border just before the apex of the wing, while in Pamphilites it terminates on the outer border just below the apex of the wing, bringing the latter into a different interspace in the two genera. From Carystus it differs, not only in having a proportionally shorter cell, but in the same point as that in which it is distinguishable from Pansydia; and further in the uppermost median nervule, which in Carystus is thrown off abruptly from the nervure just beyond its second divarication and which, by curving strongly, makes the upper median interspace of nearly equal width throughout; while in Pamphilites, the nervule parts gently from the nervure like the others, and at some distance beyond its second divarication, passing in a regular curved line to the outer border, and causing the upper median interspace to increase in breadth throughout the whole of its basal half.

In the disposition of its spots, Pamphilites (Pl. III, figs. 14, 17) agrees perhaps better with Carystus (Pl. III, fig. 19) than with Pansydia (Pl. III, fig. 15). This is especially true of the large spots in the cell and in the lower two median interspaces; although in Carystus the spots of the median interspaces are further removed from the base than in Pamphilites, while the opposite is true of the spot surmounting the submedian nervure; the submarginal spots beyond the cell of Pamphilites are wanting in Carystus, and the latter genus has but two of the three subcostal spots of Pamphilites. The spots of Pansydia are smaller and far less conspicuous than in Pamphilites, that of the cell being reduced almost to a dot; the median spots are however large, though removed farther from the base, as in Carystus; there is also a small spot in the upper median interspace, but further from the margin than in Pamphilites and unaccompanied by any spot in the interspace beyond the cell; as in Carystus, the spot surmounting the submedian nervure is further from the outer margin than in Pamphilites, but the subcostal spots accord very well with those of the fossil.

By these considerations it would appear that Pansydia is to be placed between Carystus and Pamphilites, the latter being more nearly related to Pansydia than to Carystus, leading us to believe it more probable that we are dealing with a female, whose partner was possessed of the ornament of a discal dash of specialized scales. The species of Pansydia are smaller than those of most of the neighboring genera, but Pamphilites abdita is somewhat smaller even than Pansydia mesogramma.

PAMPHILITES ABDITA Scudder.

Pl. III, figs. 14, 17, 18.

Upon a dark, uniform, probably blackish brown ground, the fore wing of this butterfly was provided (in the female?) with three large spots, three small spots, and two dots of a vitreous appearance, besides other light streaks or powdery spots. The three large spots are probably peculiar, in their present extent, to the female; they consist (Pl. III, figs. 14, 17,) of one spot in the cell and one in each of the lower median interspaces; the cellular spot crosses the cell, is sublunato-quadrate, its exterior edge concave, extending from the origin of the third superior subcostal nervule to just beyond the second divarication of the median nervure, being directed in the upper half of its course toward the base of the second median nervule; the spot is narrower above than below, the upper half having an outward as well as upward inclination, the lower margin straight, the interior margin subsinuate, convex, reaching from midway between the base of the first and second superior subcostal nervules to just beyond the middle of the space between the base of the first and second median nervules. The spot in the lowest median interspace is nearly or quite as large as the previous, but longitudinal instead of transverse, and as broad as the interspace; excepting for a little spur above on the inner side, which runs a little way toward the base, the centre of the spot would lie just below the second divarication of the median nervure, but by means of this slight spur the spot extends baseward half way from the second to the first divarication of the median nervure; at the outer extremity the spot terminates squarely and next the lowest median nervule is two-sevenths the length of that vein. The spot in the middle median interspace is much smaller, subtriangular, filling the whole breadth of the interspace, half as long again as broad, its inner tapering extremity situated just below the final divarication of the median nervure. The three small spots in the lower three subcostal nervules are seated one above the other, their inner margins on a line and nearly at right angles to the costal margin; they are quadrate and increase slightly in size below, the upper one being square, the lower longitudinally oblong; they are situated midway between the discoidal spot and the apex of the wing. The two dots are situated one just above the other in the middle of the upper median and subcosto-median interspaces, midway between the spot in the lower subcostal interspace and the outer border; the lower is slightly the larger, but not more than one-fourth the size of the uppermost subcostal spot. Seated upon the submedian nervure, its centre below the outer edge of the lower median spot, is a pale, powdery spot, twice as long as broad and about one-third the width of the interspace; outwardly it merges into the ground color; there are other pale spaces in the wing, looking somewhat as if due to attrition; especially in the cell on either side of the discoidal spot, at the extreme base of the lower median interspace, and along the lower border of the medio-submedian interspace. Length of wing, 15·75mm., length of inner border, 9·5mm.; breadth of wing across the middle, 7·25mm., breadth of wing across outer margin, 9·5mm..

Tertiaries of Aix, Provence, France. Museum of the City of Marseilles.

COMPARATIVE AGE OF FOSSIL BUTTERFLIES.

All the well determined fossil butterflies come from one of three localities, Aix, Rott and Radoboj, all belonging to the tertiaries of Europe. Others are reported, as will be seen further on, to have been found in Prussian amber; and it is not in the least improbable that they have been or may be. These would be of about the same age as the oldest of the others, those of Aix. Of the Aix fossils, which belong to the upper Eocene, or to speak more definitely, the Ligurian, Neorinopis sepulta, Lethites Reynesii, Thaites Ruminiana and Pamphilites abdita (the first described by Boisduval, the rest by myself) come from the calcareous marls of the gypsum quarries, the only bed in which insects had been found when visited by Messrs. Murchison and Lyell in 1829. Coliates Proserpina, however, described here for the first time, was taken from strata beneath these, and therefore, at least until we have more precise knowledge concerning the remains of butterfly larvæ in amber, may be considered the oldest known butterfly. Count de Saporta writes me concerning this fossil, the discovery of which is due to him, as follows:—“Cette empreinte ne provient pas des platrières même, c’est à dire des galeries qui servent à l’exploitation du Gypse; mais d’une assise ou groupe de couches immédiatement inférieure. Vous verrez cette provenance indiquée pour un grand nombre de mes espèces; dans ce cas, elles ne proviennent par des ouvriers mais je les ai recueillies moi même en suivant les lits sur les points où ils affleurent au dehors.”

The next in order, approaching recent times, are the lignite beds of Rott in the basin of the Rhine, which belong to the Aquitanian or the upper part of the lower Miocene. Thanatites vetula (described by Hayden) is the only butterfly known from this division of the Tertiaries.

The most recent beds containing fossil butterflies are the lacustrine deposits of Radoboj in Croatia, Austria. These belong to the Mayencian or lower portion of the middle Miocene, and have furnished Eugonia atava, Mylothrites Pluto, another fragment possibly referable to Mylothrites, and Pontia Freyeri, all described by Heer. Two of the genera of these more recent beds contain representatives now living in the same region; but none of the older beds have yet furnished butterflies referable to modern genera.

It is rather extraordinary that the upper Miocene beds of Œningen, Bavaria, which, if we except the amber, have furnished almost more insects than all the other beds of fossil insects of the world together, and which are more recent than any of those in which butterflies have been found, have yielded scarcely any remains of Lepidoptera (one species) and none whatever of butterflies.

PROBABLE FOOD-PLANTS OF TERTIARY CATERPILLARS.

Of the five butterflies from Aix, two belong to the Oreades (Neorinopis sepulta and Lethites Reynesii) the food of whose caterpillars at the present epoch has invariably been found to be either Gramineæ or, occasionally, Cyperaceæ. Both of these groups are present in the deposits of Aix, the former being represented by ten species of Poacites, and the latter by a Cyperites;[AG] and it is in the highest degree probable that these formed the sustenance of the Oreades of that epoch. A third species (Pamphilites abdita) belongs to the Astyci, a group whose principal food is the same family of plants, Gramineæ, although some species have been found also upon Althea, Malva and Lavatera (Malvaceæ), Trifolium, Coronilla and ?Lespedeza (Leguminosæ), Plantago (Plantaginaceæ), and Maranta (Scitamineæ). Of these families the Leguminosæ only are found at Aix, and in abundance, even including a plant doubtfully referred to Trifolium. It is, however, far more probable that Pamphilites lived upon grasses; and it is not a little strange that the Gramineæ, the probable food-plants of three of the five butterflies known from that fauna, were among the rarest of the plants; that is, their proportion to the whole phanerogamic flora was about the same as now obtains in New Guinea or New Grenada, countries the least favored in this respect.[AH] The proportion of the Gramineæ and Cyperaceæ to the whole of the Phanerogamia in Europe of to-day is, probably, about the same as in the United States (more than seventeen per cent.) and much greater than in the East Indies. The limited number of known fossil butterflies does not give great weight to any general considerations based upon them, but it may at least be worth while to remark that Aix, in Eocene times, had, in the point referred to, an assemblage of plants much better comparable with the East Indian flora of the present day than with the modern European flora, the proportion of known Gramineæ, etc., to the Phanerogamia being five per cent., while the proportion of its grass-feeding butterflies to the other rhopalocerous Lepidoptera is sixty per cent. To judge simply by the catalogue of the East India Museum, the only authority upon East Indian butterflies extant, the present proportion of gramnivorous to non-gramnivorous butterflies is as 1: 5·2, while in Europe it is as 1: 3. Eocene Aix, then, had a European proportion of Satyrids, composed, as will be seen, of species of an Indian aspect, feeding upon plants essentially temperate, but, as in tropical countries, numerically unimportant.

The Danai, to which the fourth species from Aix (Coliates Proserpina) belongs, feed almost exclusively upon Leguminosæ, and these have recently been found in great abundance at Aix. Count de Saporta enumerates one species each of ?Trifolium, Caragana, Ervites, Sophora, Micropodium, Cercis and Gleditschia, two of Phaseolites and six of Cæsalpinites, belonging to the Papilionaceæ, besides nine Acacias and a Mimosa of the Mimoseæ, and four species of uncertain relations; making a series larger than he has found in any other family.[AI]

Of these, two species of Phaseolites, one of Sophora, eight of Acacia and two of Leguminosites are specified as coming from the lower beds, where Coliates itself is found. But Coliates is most closely allied, as we have said, to a group of Indian forms, and the food plants of their caterpillars is almost wholly unknown. A species of Delias, however, to which genus Coliates has been specially compared, is stated to feed, not upon a leguminous plant, but upon Dioscorea, one of the Yam family; and the presence in Aix of a species of a closely allied group, Smilax rotundiloba Sap., is announced by Count de Saporta. It is not improbable, therefore, that Smilax rotundiloba was the food-plant of the larva of Coliates Proserpina.[AJ]

The fifth Aix species is Thaites Ruminiana. It is most nearly allied to Thais of the present day, though it bears certain relations, as we have seen, to neighboring genera. Thais feeds principally at least upon Aristolochia[AK] and so, too, do Ornithoptera, Archon and some genera of swallow-tails; indeed, this seems to be a favorite food-plant with insects of this character. Parnassius, however, feeds on Sedum, Telephium, Sempervivum and Corydalis, especially on the first-named, one of the Crassulaceæ; but nothing very closely allied to this is specified by Saporta from Aix; neither, also is Aristolochia, but it has been found not only in Radoboj[AL] in the Mayencian, but also, according to Heer, at Hohe Rhonen in Switzerland, which belongs to the Aquitanian, and has at least one plant (Laurus primigenia Ung.) in common with Aix. It seems, therefore, highly probable that either Aristolochia nervosa Heer, A. Aesculapi Heer, or a distinct species of the genus will yet be discovered at Aix,[AM] and may then be considered, as with little question, the food-plant of Thaites Ruminiana. If it be deemed hazardous to venture such an opinion, attention is called to the two following passages; the first is from the introduction to Heer’s paper on the fossil insects of Aix:[AN] “Dass indessen auch Weiden oder Pappeln [Populus] sich vorhanden, dürften der Bythoscopus muscarius und die Aphrophora spumifera [Homoptera] anzeigen, deren analoge lebende Arten besonders auf den Blättern und Zweigen dieser Bäume sich umhertreiben.” The second is a note in the errata to the translation of Heer’s work on the Climate and Vegetation of the Tertiaries[AO] by Gaudin: “Le Poacites ciliatus Sap. n’est pas une glume de Graminée, mais plutôt une bractée ciliée de Peuplier.… Elle doit être probablement rapprochée d’une empreinte … provenant des mêmes couches et qui se rapporte également au genre Populus. Les organes voisins de ceux du Pop. Euphratica Oliv. dans la nature actuelle dénotent l’existence, à l’époque des gypses d’Aix, d’une espèce de Peuplier dont les feuilles sont encore inconnues, comme celles de l’Alnus cryptophylla Sap., mais que M. Heer avait indiqué d’avance, en se fondant sur l’observation d’un insecte fossile, le Bythoscopus muscarius! Nouvelle preuve du secours que peuvent se prêter en paléontologie les diverses branches de l’histoire naturelle.”

The single species from Rott, Thanatites vetula, is closely allied to the modern Thanaos, whose species are numerous and feed upon a variety of plants, belonging to the families Cruciferæ, Leguminosæ, Umbelliferæ, Cupuliferæ, Betulaceæ and Salicaceæ. Most of the genera belonging to its tribe feed upon Leguminosæ, and these are the usual food plants of the species Thanaos also; whence it is probable that Thanatites had a similar taste. Now in the very beds of Rott, in which this butterfly was found, occur species of Betula, Salix and Populus, with numerous Querci and no less than eleven genera of Leguminosæ, mostly belonging to the Papilionaceæ; they are Templetonia (1 species), Robinia (2), Colutea (1), Phaseolites (2), Sphinctolobium (1), Dalbergia (1), Hæmatoxylon (2), Gleditschia (2), Cassia (3), Ceratonia (1), and Acacia (2). It is probably among these, and perhaps with greatest probability among the species of Hæmatoxylon and Gleditschia, that the food plant of Thanatites must be sought. Should leaves be found, in which a portion is bent over as if to form a nest, they should be submitted to the scrutiny of some one familiar with the larval habitations of Thanaos Tages; and should traces of silken fastenings be found in connection with them, or the marks of nibbling at the edges, the plant to which they belong may be considered with strong probability as the food of Thanatites vetula.

The only butterfly found at Radoboj belonging to an extinct genus is Mylothrites Pluto, and this is a member of the same general group as Coliates, and feeds probably upon Leguminosæ; for it is not so closely allied to Delias as Coliates is, but is more nearly related to Hebomoia, one of whose species, found in the East Indias, feeds upon Capparis.[AP] One species of Phaseolites, one of Sophora and four of Cassia, namely: C. hyberborea Ung., C. phaseolites Ung., C. lignitum Ung., and C. ambigua Ung., are recorded from Radoboj, and as Cassia is a favorite food plant among the larger species of Danai at the present day, we may fairly presume one of these Cassiæ to have afforded nourishment to Mylothrites Pluto. Moreover, no less than thirty-one species of Leguminosæ in general, or between a ninth and a tenth of the whole known flora, are given by von Ettingshausen as occurring in Radoboj; so that in any case our Mylothrites must have found abundance of palatable food.

The food of Pontia Freyeri is doubtful. All the living species of the genus so far as known, feed upon Cruciferæ; within this family they do not seem to be at all particular, making use of a large number of genera, but in only a single instance are they known to attack the leaves of a genus (Reseda) belonging to an adjoining family. Cruciferæ, however, are excessively rare in the tertiaries of Europe, two species only being recorded, and this from the comparatively recent beds of Œningen. This is unquestionably due simply to the nature of the plants themselves, which scarcely could leave any trace of their existence; the almost complete absence of the herbaceous families of plants, even in the later tertiaries, is doubtless due to this fact. The plants nearest related to the Cruciferæ found near the horizon of Pontia Freyeri are a species of Nelumbium from Günzbourg in the Mayencian, and of Terminalia (T. radobojensis Ung.)—one of the Calycifloræ, from Radoboj itself. Perhaps in the absence of better evidence we may provisionally consider the latter to have been the food plant of P. Freyeri.

A single Radoboj species remains, Eugonia atava. The recent species of Eugonia feed particularly on Salix, Populus and Betula; also upon Ulmus, and occasionally on Ribes, and even on Hippophae. The first three seem however to be their proper food; and since the tertiaries of Radoboj contain fossils of all these genera, we need look no farther. There are specified: Salix apollinis Ung., sp., Populus latior Br., P. mutabilis Heer., P. Heliadum Ung., Betula Dryadum Brongn. and B. prisca Ett. Three species of Ulmus are also recorded from the same place.

Excepting in a single case, there is then no difficulty in finding, in the very hods in which the butterflies occur, remains of plants, which in all probability served them as food during the larval stage; and even in this single instance, a plant not far removed from those upon which species of the genus now feed, occurs in the same strata.