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Volume 41, Number 2
123
Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 41(2), 1987, 123
SPEYERIA COLLECTION OF PAUL GREY TO THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
The incomparable collection of the genus Speyeria (Nymphalidae) of Paul Grey has been deposited in the American Museum of Natural History. It consists of some 19,700 mounted specimens, including 263 paratypes, with series from throughout the range of every species. The number of specimens ranges from a low of 94 for diana up to 4366 for atlantis. This material has been incorporated into the Museum's collection, which includes the Gunder and dos Passos specimens, among others, to form a study collection of 37,800 butterflies in this one genus.
In addition to the specimens, about 150 genitalic preparations were received. These were made to study and help define each species, and formed the basis for "A genitalic survey of Argynninae (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae)" by C. F. dos Passos and L. P. Grey (1945, Am. Mus. Novitates, no. 1296, 29 pp., 54 figs.). Additional study led the same authors to their "Systematic catalogue of Speyeria (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) with designations of types and fixations of type localities" (1947, Am. Mus. Novitates, no. 1370, 30 pp.)- Grey made a list of the specimens and slides used in the former paper, which is in the museum's files; not all the material studied was available in the Grey and dos Passos collections.
A catalogue on 3" x 5" index cards has been presented to the Museum also, listing and commenting on many of the specimens, by species and locality, that were studied by Paul Grey over the years. This takes up about two linear meters. Much valuable distributional data is included in this file; it also lists many butterflies not in his collection.
The Speyeria collection of the American Museum of Natural History now contains not only the primary types of about one-third of the approximately 160 available names, but paratype and topotypical material of all, or nearly all, the specific and infraspecihc names. The study collection has the specimens arranged by counties within the contiguous United States, and by neighboring areas in Mexico, Canada, and Alaska. Study of the distribution and variation within each species is simplified when the butterflies are pinned out in this manner. One result of this curating is that it quickly became evident to me that the majority of the subspecihc names proposed in this genus are, at best, but random points on or at the ends of various clines, and hence are of little or no scientific value. There appear to be very few completely allopatric populations to which legitimate names might be attached.
Frederick H. Rindge, Department of Entomology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024.