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104 Masters: Heliconius in Venezuela Vol. 23, no. 2
the descriptions of melissa assimilis. The two females we caught were in fresh condition and tended from brown to yellow brown on the dorsal sides of the wings. Males were of a uniform gray-brown dorsally. Ventrally, both sexes showed appreciable contrast between the light distal area of the hindwing and the dark postmedian band. Both sexes seemed to be unusually small for assimilis. In contrast to individuals of the Irony Mountain population, typical assimilis is very dark gray or black dorsally with little or no brown in either sex, and shows less contrast between light and dark areas on the ventral hindwings.
When I returned home from Schefferville, I took the series of melissa to Dr. C. F. dos Passos for help in making a determination. We agreed that the Schefferville specimens resembled O. melissa semplei Holland more than O. m. assimilis. In addition, Schefferville is nearer the type locality of semplei (Little Cape Jones River, east coast of Hudson Bay) than that of assimilis, which has a more northern distribution. From the evidence we believe that Oeneis melissa from the Schefferville area should be referred to as O. melissa semplei.
Literature Cited Hensel, H., 1965. Two weeks of Butterfly Hunting in Central Laborador. J. Lep.
Soc, 19: 242-243. Munroe, E. G., 1951. Field Notes on the Butterflies of Knob Lake, Northern
Quebec. Contr. no. 2788, Div. Ent, Science Service, Dept. of Agric, Ottawa,
Canada.
HELICONIUS HECALE AND XANTHOCLES IN VENEZUELA (NYMPHALIDAE)
John H. Masters
P.O. Box 7511, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Heliconius hecale Fabricius is an easily recognizable species that has only been known from a limited area in Guiana. Hall (1939) noted that H. hecale was found at Parika (where it was locally common), Demerara and Mabaruma, British Guiana. While Emsley (1965) records H. hecale from El Chorro, Venezuela, I have been unable to verify its presence in Venezuela until recently. During December of 1966, Albert and Mary Lou Gadou, of Caracas, collected in the Guiana Highlands close to the British Guiana border at El Carmen (25 Km northeast of El Dorado), Bolivar, Venezuela. I recently examined their El Carmen "catch" and was happily surprised at finding a short series of H. hecale. Emsley (1965) noted that the pair of specimens from El Chorro were unique because the white forewing bands were shifted toward the apex and did
1969
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not intersect the cell. I consider the El Carmen specimens, which have slightly wider bands than British Guiana specimens, but in the normal position, to be nominate H. hecale. Heliconius ethillus Godart was collected sympatric with H. hecale at El Carmen. This is significant because while ethillus and hecale are readily separated by pattern they are morphologically indistinguishable. Emsley (1965) states: "It is not known to what degree if any H. hecale is geographically or ecologically isolated from ostensibly sympatric forms of H. ethillus. . ."
During February, 1966, I collected three specimens of Heliconius xanthocles Bates, not previously known from Venezuela, 85 kilometers south of El Dorado on the El Dorado/Santa Elena road, Bolivar, Venezuela. Dr. Michael G. Emsley of the Philadelphia Academy of Science confirmed my determinations. An examination of the Gadou collection revealed several additional examples of H. xanthocles that had been captured at Santa Elena de Uairena, Bolivar, Venezuela during August, 1964. All of the Venezuelan xanthocles lack rays on the hind wings and are best referred to as nominate H. x. xanthocles. Heliconius xanthocles was found sympatric with two similarly marked species: Heliconius burneyi catharinae Staudinger and Heliconius elevatus tumatumari Kaye at Kilometer 85 and H. b. catharinae and H. elevatus roraima at Santa Elena. The Gadous collected about ten examples of H. e. roraima at Santa Elena, the only known specimens outside of the type series from Mt. Roraima.
Literature Cited Emsley, M. G., 1965. Speciation in Heliconius (Lep., Nymphalidae): morphology
and geographic distribution. Zoologica, 50: 191-254. Hall, A., 1939. Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (butterflies) of British
Guiana. British Guiana Dept. Agr. Ent. Bull, 3: 1-88.
NOCTURNAL COPULATION OF RHOPALOCERA
The article on mating behavior of butterflies by Miller and Clench (1968, /. Lepid. Soc, 22: 125-132) prompts me to report several instances of mating pairs of butterflies collected on a moth sheet using a 15 watt "BL" florescent light. Six pairs have been taken but only two species are involved, Libytheana bachmanii (Kirtland) and Strymon melinus Hubner. Four pairs of L. bachmanii were collected in 1966 in Lake Corpus Christi State Park near Mathis, Texas. Three pairs on the 15th and one pair on the 16th of June. Collection times were 10:35 P.M. (2 pair), 11:15 P.M. and 11:45 P.M. Central Standard Time. It should be pointed out that L. bachmanii was literally swarming all through the park at this time and 27 other individuals were taken from the light sheet during three evenings of collecting. The specimens were probably disturbed from the trees overhead by our activity or by other large insects which were swarming around the light. All four pairs were mated when found and may either have been resting in coition in the trees above or joined after their arrival on the sheet.
In the same park, 17 June, 1968 we collected another mating pair of L. bachmanii and one pair of S. melinus. The L. bachmanii were paired when found at 11:05 P.M.