This very pretty species is apparently quite common in northern California about Mount Shasta. It is subject to variation, and I possess a dozen remarkable aberrations, in one of which the fore wings are solid black without spots, and the hind wings marked by only one central band of large yellow spots; another representing the opposite color extreme, in which yellow has almost wholly replaced the black and red. The majority of these aberrant forms are females. They are very striking.
(3) =Melitæa macglashani=, Rivers, Plate XVI, Fig. 3, ♂ (Macglashan's Checker-spot).
_Butterfly._--Larger than the preceding species, with the red spots on the outer margin bigger, the yellow spots generally larger and paler. Expanse, ♂, 1.85-2.00 inches; ♀, 2.25-3.00 inches.
This insect is represented in the Edwards collection by a considerable series. They come from Truckee, California.
(4) =Melitæa colon=, Edwards, Plate XVI, Fig. 5, ♂ (Colon).
_Butterfly._--Of the same size and general appearance as _M. chalcedon_, with which I believe it to be identical, the only possible satisfactory mark of distinction which I am able to discover on comparing the types with a long series of _chalcedon_ being the reduced size of the marginal row of yellow spots on the upper side of the primaries, which in one of the types figured in the plate are almost obsolete. They appear, however, in other specimens labeled "Type." The learned author of the species lays stress, in his original description, upon the shape of the spots composing the band of spots second from the margin on the under side of the hind wings; but I find that the same points he dwells upon as diacritic of this species are apparent in many specimens of what undoubtedly are _chalcedon_. Expanse, 1.75-2.50 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have not been recorded.
The types came from the region of the Columbia River, in Washington and Oregon.
(5) =Melitæa anicia=, Doubleday and Hewitson, var. =beani=, Skinner, Plate XVIII, Fig. 13, ♂ (Bean's Checker-spot).
_Butterfly._--_M. anicia_ is a well-known Californian species, smaller than _M. chalcedon_, and with a great deal of red on the basal and discal areas of both wings upon the upper side. An extremely small and dark form of this species, found on the bleak, inhospitable mountain-tops about Laggan, in Alberta, has been named by Dr. Skinner in honor of Mr. Bean, its discoverer. The figure in our plate, which is taken from Dr. Skinner's original type, sufficiently defines the characteristics of the upper surface. Expanse, 1.50 inch.