The text below is grayed out because it is not intended to be read. It is a necessarily imperfect OCR of the original and is only used by a search engine.
278
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
It seems safe to assume that when males of both species are on a given hilltop they court and fertilize females of their own species. If, however, a virgin female of one species hilltopped and found the summit occupied only by one or more males of the other species, interspecific courtship, copulation, and fertilization might then occur. There must certainly be many behavioral and environmental factors opposing this process, otherwise one might expect hybrids to be more common.
Field (1971) has removed annabella from the genus Vanessa and placed it in Cynthia. In view of the natural hybridization of V. atalanta rubria and C. annabella, it would seem that the validity of such a separation is doubtful. Until further studies of the hybrids can be made, including laboratory crosses and backcrosses, together with comparative morphological studies of the early stages, it seems best to respect for the present Field's revision.
The adult hybrid specimens, their mature larval cast skins, and the pupal shells of hybrids #1 and #2 are retained in the collection of the author.
Acknowledgments
I am most grateful to Mr. Herman G. Real of San Mateo, California, for his review and criticism of the manuscript, and to Dr. Theodore D. Sargent for his editorial suggestions.
Literature Cited
Field, W. D. 1971. Butterflies of the Genus Vanessa and of the Resurrected Genera Bassaris and Cynthia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Smithsonian Contr. Zool., No. 84. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 75 p., 160 figs.
Munz, P. A. 1968. A California Flora. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1681 p.
Shields, O. 1967. Hilltopping. J. Res. Lepid. 6: 69-178.
NOTES AND NEWS
Erratum
In my paper, "Observations on some Phycitinae (Pyralidae) of Texas with descriptions of two new species," (J. Lepid. Soc. 24: 249-255, 1970), the species Dioryctria Auranticella (Grote) is reported in error. Dr. E. G. Munroe, who saw the three specimens, when he examined my collection in early 1973, identified them as Dioryctria rossi Munroe.
Andre Blanchard, P.O. Box 20304, Houston, Texas 77025.