Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 7. (Budapest 1956)

Kovács, L.: Some data concerning the subspecific distribution of Colias chrysotheme Esp. (Lepidoptera)

along Lake Velence. In the west, we have met with it till the line DunaalmásVárpalota-Tihany. The species had heen shown in the vicinity of 13 villages in the above area. According to the data of P i 1 1 i c h, chrysotheme occurs also further to the,South, in Simontornya. Though I have not seen a specimen as yet from this locality, I hold it rather possible that, on the basis of the ecological conditions, the chrysotheme of Simontornya also belongs to this group. In the above territory, the collecting localities of the species are situated partly on hill slopes of a southern inclination, in warm depressions and valleys, and partly on dry, stony pastures. I have even caught it on the edge of a dry reedy patch near Lake Velence, but there is also a dry pasture near the reeds. The observation ofAbafi-Aigner (3), namely that chrysotheme is mainly to be found on wet meadows, is, according to my data gained from the Eastern Transdanubium, not acceptable. C. chrysotheme on the sandy areas of the Great Plains. Of chrysotheme, there are some collecting localities known from the area between the Danube and the Tisza which are on sand, yet I received a more considerable material from Ágasegyháza only. Specimens collected here are generally larger than those from the Eastern Transdanubium. The alar expanse of a specimen of the spring generation is 47 mm, that of two females 39, that is, 45 mm. The alar expanse of two males from the summer is 43, and 46, respectively, whilst one female measures 45 mm. The expanse of seven males from the fall varies between 33—41 mm, two females measure 42 and 46 mm. The color of the wings also differs from those of the Transdanubium. The orange suffusion has, on all three broods, a strong inclination toward yellow besides being very vivid and shiny. It is a well observable character of the males that the yellow veins within the black margin are broad, their bases expand, — the same veins being, on the Transdanubial specimens, more narrow, their bases do not expand conspicuously. Within the black margins of the summer females, the yellow spots are large and, on the hind wings, press the black basic color of the margins still more into the background. The summertime characteristics appear in an extreme form on one of the springtime females. The crowding into the foreground of the yellow coloring element is still better observable on the underside of the wings as it happens on specimens from the Eastern Transdanubium ; the green suffusion retreats rather more into the background also in the first and third broods. These specimens had been collected on loose sand by Gy. É h i k, L. G o z m á n y, and Mrs. E. D r ó z d y. From the other sandy areas of the Great Plains only some few chrysotheme specimens had been at my disposal. We have a female from Szigetcsép, which came to the Museum with the collection of A. Kertész, this specimen resembles very much the females from Ágasegyháza. We have a male from Peszér which is, however, so worn that it cannot be decided with any security as to what group it belongs. We have also a female with the locality label Izsák but this differs from any other home female. Finally, we have two specimens from the Dahlstr öm collection, labelled Debrecen, but, owing to the numerous erroneous data of this collection, I did not draw them into my examinations. By the above discussion, its still remains an open question whether the form collected at Ágasegyháza is merely a local form or has a wider distribution on the sand of the Great Plains.