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16
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
member with chromatic hindwings. It is suggested that the species in each of these pairs may share the same ecological niche, and may have arisen sympatrically.
Literature Cited
Forbes, W. T. M. 1954. Lepidoptera of New York and neighboring states. III.
Noctuidae. Cornell Univ. Agri. Exp. Sta. Memoir 329. 433 p. Ford, E. B. 1964. Ecological genetics. Methuen, London. 335 p. Ricklefs, R. E. 1973. Ecology. Chiron Press, Newton, Mass. 861 p. Sargent, T. D. 1969. A suggestion regarding hindwing diversity among moths
of the genus Catocala (Noctuidae). J. Lepid. Soc. 23: 261-264. ----------. 1973. Studies on the Catocala (Noctuidae) of southern New England.
IV. A preliminary analysis of beak-damaged specimens, with discussion of
anomaly as a potential antipredator function of hindwing diversity. J. Lepid.
Soc. 27: 175-192. ----------. 1976. Legion of night: The underwing moths. Univ. Mass. Press,
Amherst, Mass. 222 p. ---------- & S. A. Hessel. 1970. Studies on the Catocala (Noctuidae) of southern
New England. I. Abundance and seasonal occurrence of the species, 1961-
1969. J. Lepid. Soc. 24: 105-117. ----------& D. F. Owen. 1975. Apparent stability in hindwing diversity in samples
of moths of varying species composition. Oikos 26: 205-210. Wynne-Edwards, V. C. 1962. Animal dispersion in relation to social behaviour.
Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh. 653 p.
MELITAEA SAXATILIS MOD. "SASSANIDES" (NYMPHALIDAE) IN IRAN: CONFIRMATION OF AN OLD RECORD
On 5 July 1974 I took eight adult specimens of Melitaea saxatilis mod. "sassanides" (Higgins) in Alborz, Mount Damavand, northern Iran. The butterfly was restricted to the height of 4000 m, near the third mountaineer's shelter where a steep rock slope was covered by a few scattered species of Cruciferae, Labiatae and grasses. The adults were feeding on the few Labiatae flowers that existed. No early stages were found.
Higgins (1941) in his "An illustrated catalogue of the Palearctic Melitaea' (Trans. Roy. Ent. Soc. London 91: 175-365) mentioned that the only specimens he saw were amongst the ex. coll. Grum-Grshimaile collection at the British Museum. They were collected on 29 June 1894 and no additional record has ever been published. Personal contact with Dr. Higgins and the literature confirm this claim. Unfortunately, due to the change of the weather and the dangerous location of the butterfly habitat, I was not able to collect a sample of the vegetation or investigate farther.
Javad Hashemi Tafreshi, 4 Whiteheads Lane, Bradford-On-Avon, Wiltshire, England.