www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks to Mark Colvin (actually, one of Mark's contacts!) and Guy for sorting out the German translations. Any further comments would be welcome. A full set of subspecies and forms to be described is in the attached image where you can also see which are done if you want to check them. I'd be interested in feedback on the thought process of which subspecies are being selected, which is:

1. We don't need to show the description of the nominate subspecies (i.e. the type). The descriptions are either minimal (e.g. just a name) or extensive and represent, usually, the most abundant race of a given species.

2. We don't need to show the subspecies description when there is only a single subspecies in the British Isles (even if it's not the nominate subspecies, which applies to Holly Blue, High Brown Fritillary, Marbled White and Gatekeeper). The thinking is that their description isn't needed since they're the only ones you'd ever see!

Will post some additional translations later today.
Cheers,

- Pete

And the next two ...

Euphydras aurinia hibernica
Original Male. Alae supernè nigrae, anticae maculis seriatim dispositis fulvis ad marginem posticum, aliisque in medio plurimis albis vel stramineo-albidis ad marginem interiorem coalescentibus, lituram formantibus, posticae fasciâ latâ fulvâ secus marginem posticum (examplarum typicorum maculis fulvis margine postico nigro angusto obsitis in varietate vel indiscretissimis vel nullis) ornatae : subtùs pallide-fulvae, signaturâ simili at indiscretâ.

Female. Alae anticae fulvae, seriebus macularum albarum vel stramineo-albidarum duabus, interdum confluentibus fasciasque formantibus, fasciâ exteriore trans alas posticas productâ, notatae ; posticae ut in typicis, sed maculis stramineo-albidis nec fulvis ornatae.

Alarum expansio male 1 unc. 4 lin, — 1 unc. 8 lin. ; female 2 unc. — 2 unc. 3 lin.

Larva a larvis M. Artemidis Angliam incolentibus haud discrepat.

Habitat in paludosis Hiberniae centralibus.

Google Translation
Male. Black wings above the anterior margin yellow spots regularly placed at the back, in the midst of many other white or straw-white inner margin coalescing, erasure affecting forming, wide rear fascia along with yellow hind margins (typical example of black spots with yellow hind margins narrow or blocked by a variety of indiscretissimis or no) sympathy, under a pale-yellow, Signatura similar but indistinguishable.
Male. The wings on the front of yellow, white or straw-white two series of spots, sometimes confluent fasciasque forming, exterior fascia of the back side of the wings extended, noted, the back door to the typical, but no white spots, straw-yellow, ornate.

Wings spreading ill 1 inch. 4 and a half inches - 1 inch. 8 stops. , Female 2 inches. - 2 inches. 3 stops.

The mask of masks Artemidis England inhabitants no discrepancy.

Dwells in BOGGY central Ireland.

Pararge aegeria tircis
Original Le dessus des ailes est d’un brun-obscur, avec des taches d’un jaune-d’ocre. Les ailes supérieures en ont une douzaine, sans compter un oeil noir à prunelle blanche, placé vis-à-vis du sommet. Les ailes inférieures en ont deux, derrière lesquelles il y a une bande pareillement jaune, offrant quatre yeux noirs, dont l'antérieur plus petit et sans prunelle, les autres avec une prunelle blanche.

Le dessous des premières ailes ressemble au dessus; seulement le fond et les taches en sont un peu plus pâles.

Le dessous des secondes ailes est d'un gris-verdâtre légèrement chatoyant, avec deux lignes brunes, transverses, ondulées, à la suite desquelles il y a deux taches jaunâtres, puis une rangée courbe de cinq à six points blanchâtres entourés de brun, enfin une teinte violâtre qui couvre presque tout le bord postérieur.

Les antennes sont colorées comme dans les deux espèces précédentes; mais leur massue est en fuseau.

Google Translation
The upperside is dark-brown, with patches of yellow-d'ocre. The upper wings have a dozen, not to mention a black eye to white pupil placed vis-à-vis the summit. The lower wings have two, behind which there is a yellow band alike, offering four black eyes, whose previous smaller and without apple, the other with a white apple.

The bottom of the first wings like above, only the background and spots are a little paler.

The underside of the second wing is greenish-gray slightly shimmering with two brown lines, transverse, wavy, after which there are two yellow spots, and a curved row of five or six white spots surrounded by brown, and finally a purplish tint that covers almost the entire posterior edge.

The antennae are colored as in the two preceding species, but their club is in time.

Cheers,

- Pete

Here's hibernica, still following (ungrammatically) the Latin habit of stringing phrases together with commas...!

Male. Wings black above, the forewings with reddish yellow spots arranged in a series towards the rear margin, and with many other white or straw-white (spots) in the middle (of the wing), uniting towards the inner margin, forming a blot, the hindwings adorned with a broad reddish yellow band following the rear margin (the reddish yellow spots of typical specimens being bounded by a narrow black rear margin which may as a variation be vestigial or absent): the underside pale reddish yellow, with a similar pattern but indistinguishable (??).

Female. Forewings reddish yellow inscribed with two series of white or straw-white spots, occasionally fused and forming bands with the outer band extended across the hind wings; the hindwings as in the typical form but adorned with straw-white spots not reddish yellow.

Wingspan: (I'm not completely sure how to interpret the figures)

The larva is indistinguishable from the larvae of M. Artemis inhabiting England [i.e. '... from the English form of M. Artemis].

There were some difficulties (for me) with that translation. In the first line, the meanings of 'rear margin' (marginem posticum) and 'inner margin' (marginem interiorem) are not completely clear to me. If the rear margin really means the outer margin it might make more sense. The end of the description of the male doesn't make much sense to me ('with a similar pattern but indistinguishable'). The word 'at' introduces a contrast but 'indistinguishable' hardly contrasts with 'similar'. Maybe bluff it with, 'with a similar, perhaps indistinguishable, pattern' or maybe ask someone whose Latin is better than mine.

Guy

And here's the tircis. Again, to help follow this translation I've echoed the punctuation of the original, but this could easily be changed to better English. Spots, patches, blotches - you could choose the word you thought most appropriate!

The upperside of the wings is dark brown, with spots of yellow-ochre. The forewings have a dozen of these, as well as a black eyespot with a white pupil positioned towards the apex. The hindwings have two (yellow ochre spots), behind which there is a band of a similar yellow colour, showing four black eyespots, of which the foremost is smaller and lacks a pupil, the others having a white pupil.

The underside of the forewings resembles the upperside; only the ground colour and the spots are a little paler.

The underside of the hindwings is green-grey, slightly lustrous, with two brown, wavy, transverse lines, outside which there are two yellowish spots, then a curved array of five to six whitish points surrounded by brown, finally a violet tint which covers almost all the outer margin.

The antennae are coloured as in the two preceding species; but their club is tapered.

Guy

(Edited, because I missed out a section the first time by mistake)

Bloomin' marvellous - thanks again Guy. I can't keep up with you

On a related note, you'll see that the species pages now have a set of images selected on a per-subtaxon basis. I believe this shows much more clearly (or will do, once we get the images!) the differences between subtaxa (e.g. http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... es=machaon).

Cheers,

- Pete

Next one

Erebia epiphron mnemon
Original 3. Mnemon. Papilio. (The small Ringlet) alis supra nigro-fuscis, fascia postica communi annulari, annulis coccineis.
Habitat in Scotia.
Obs. Statura et magnitudo Pap. Pamphili. Alae anticae supra annulis quatuor, horum tertius dimidiatus et aliquantillum exterior. Posticae alae annulis tantum duabus, vis. secundus et quartus anticarum alarum. Subtus alae cupreo-fuscae, anticae punctis subtribus fere evanescentibus fuscis fulvo obscure circumcinctis, loco annulorum: posticae fere omnino impunctatae.
In Museo Dom. Francillon, a captore Dom. Stoddart.
Obs. I have not found any account of this species in the works of Fabricius, Hübner, Herbst or any other author in my possession.

Google Translation
3. Mnemon. Papilio. (The Small Ringlet) above black-brown wings, back bra annulari common, scarlet rings.
Habitat in Scotland.
Obs. Height and size of the Popes. Pamphilus. The wings on the front above the four rings, and a bit to the outer half of the third. Rear wing only two rings, you want to. second and fourth on the front wings. Wings beneath a copper-brown, yellow, dark brown, surrounded anteriorly points away almost vanishing, instead of rings, the back almost completely impunctatae.
Museum in England. Francillon, from seizor Europea. Stoddart.
Obs. 1 have not found any account of this species in the study of the construction works, Hübner, Herbst or any other author in my possession.

Cheers,

- Pete

I again had some difficulties with this last text (Mnemon) - so was hoping someone else would step in and show how it's done ... As no one did, here's my attempt:

"Wings blackish-brown above, the rear* band on both wings ringed, with scarlet rings.

Lives in Scotland.

Obs. Size of Pap. Pamphilus. Forewings with four rings above, of which the third is diminished and slightly displaced outward. Hindwings with only two rings, namely, the second and fourth of the forewings**. Wings coppery brown beneath, the forewings with about three almost vanishing dark points surrounded by ill-defined reddish yellow, in the place of rings: hindwings generally without spots at all.

In the Museum Dom. Francillon, from the collector Dom. Stoddart".

*In the first line, the 'rear band' is clearly what we now call the postdiscal band. I wonder if butterflies were set differently then, so what we call the 'outer margin' seemed more naturally named the 'rear margin' (see my comments on one of the other translations).

**The sentence beginning 'Posticae alae ...' had me perplexed. What I've written ('Hindwings with only two rings, namely, the second and fourth of the forewings') doesn't make any sense, or match pictures of mnemon - and 'secundus' and 'quartus' seem grammatically unconnected with the sentence, being in the nominative singular. I think this reveals my limitations!

Guy

Suite...

I've decided you have to read that difficult sentence as, 'Hindwings with only two rings, corresponding to the second and fourth of the forewings'. It's a new way of using 'videlicet' (for me, anyway) but there you go ...

Most males and all females in the pictures have more than two 'rings' on the hindwings.

Guy

Gratias multas meus amicus

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote:Gratias multas meus amicus

Cheers,

- Pete

Google translate has a very slender grasp of case!!

It's good fun. Keep them coming!

Guy

padfield wrote:Google translate has a very slender grasp of case!!

Most definitely rumbled I've decided that I do need to dig out my old Latin books, given that Latin is used to describe many of the aberrations! But this whole exercise is definitely helping me get through a butterfly-less winter!

Cheers,

- Pete

Two French definitions:

Erebia aethiops caledonia

Original Se distingue bien de la race alpine par sa taille toujours moindre (envergure : 33-42 mill., tandis que celle du type varie entre 40 et 45 mill.), par ses ailes bien plus étroites et allongées, avec les angles plus aigus et le contour du limbe plus droit; la bande fauve est étroite et ne contient jamais plus de trois petits ocelles, tandis que chez la race alpine elle en contient souvent quatre ou cinq, surtout chez la [female]; enfin les bandes du revers des postérieures sont assez fréquemment peu distinctes.

Habitat. — La série typique de ma collection, que je décris, est de Galasliiels (Écosse). Dans d'autres régions écossaises volent des formes de transition au type alpin.

Google Translation
Is distinct from the Alpine race by its size smaller (wingspan: 33-42 mill., While the type varies between 40 and 45 mill.), With its wings more narrow and elongated, with sharper angles and the leaf edge over law; tawny band is narrow and contains no more than three small ocelli, whereas in the Alpine race it often contains four or five, especially for the [female] and finally the bands on the underside of hind are frequently indistinct.

Habitat. - The typical series of my collection, which I describe, is Galasliiels (Scotland). In other areas Scottish fly transitional forms to alpine.

Hipparchia semele scota
Original Satyrus semele L. race scota, nova. — Taille très réduite (envergure : 45 -50 mill., au lieu de 48-60 mill.; dessins fauves plutôt étendus, mais très pâles, presque jaunes; revers des postérieures extrèmement obscurs et sans bande blanche transversale; la marbrure est d'un noir profond et extrêmement abondante, ce qui donne à l'aile un aspect complètement différent de celui du type.

Habitat. — Ecosse septentrionale. Types : coll. Vérity.

Google Translation
Satyrus semele L. Scota race, nova. - Size very small (wingspan: 43 -50 mill. Instead of 48-60 mill.; Drawings beasts rather extensive, but very pale, almost yellow; setback after the extremely obscure and without transverse white band; marbling is to deep black and very abundant, which gives the wing look completely different from the type.

Habitat. - Northern Scotland. Types al. Verity.

Cheers,

- Pete

Caledonia:

Clearly distinguished from the alpine race by its invariably smaller size (wingspan : 33-42 mm., while that of the nominate form varies between 40 and 45 mm), its narrower and more elongated wings, with sharper angles, and by the straighter wing edge; the reddish yellow band is narrow and never contains more than three small ocelli, while in the alpine race there are often four or five, especially in the female; finally, the bands on the underside of the hindwings are frequently indistinct.

Habitat: The type series in my collection, which I am describing, is from Galashiels (Scotland). In other parts of Scotland forms transitional to the Alpine type fly.

Semele scota:

Satyrus semele L. race scota, new – Size much reduced (wingspan: 45 – 50 mmm, instead of 48-60 mm); fulvous markings rather extensive but very pale, almost yellow; underside of the hindwings extremely dark and lacking a white transverse band; the marbling is deep black and very copious, giving the wings a completely different look from that of the type.

Habitat – Northern Scotland. Types: Vérity collection.

Guy

Thanks Guy! Just 3 more to do (in Latin) Will post tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers,

- Pete

And the last 3 - all Large Heath and all Latin

Coenonympha tullia davus

Original alis integerrimis fuluis: anticis ocellis duobus, posticis sex coecis, subtus pupillatis.
Habitat Hamburgi Dr. Schulz, Kilonii Sehestedt.
Medius. Alae anticae supra fuluae ocellis duobus atris coecis tertioque minutissimo vix distincto; subtus fascia alba ocellis duobus pupilla alba. Posticae obscuriores ocellis quinque aut sex coecis; subtus griseae fascia interrupta alba ocellis sex atris pupilla alba posteriore didymo.

Google Translation
Wings entire gleams: anterior two eyes, with dark and six rear, under pupillatis.
Habitat Dr. Hamburg. Schulze, Kilonii Sehestedt.
Middle. The wings on the front above the tawny eyes with dark and murky, and third minute barely two distinct white bra underneath her eyes two white pupil. She had five or six back are darker with dark and under gray bra interrupted white eyes with black pupils, six white posterior Didymus. 

Coenonympha tullia polydama

Original Alis fulvis, anticis subtus ocellis duobus; posticis 6 albo cinctis quarum 3 dimidiatis.
Pap. Polydama Scop. Carn. 434?
HABITAT rarissime comitatu Eboracense. Semel capta et ad me missa amicissimo meo P.W. Watson. Imago mense Junio Paludosis.
EXPANSIO alarum 1 unc. 7 lin.
DESCRIPTIO. Imago. Alae antlcae griseo-fulvae ocellis duabus posticis caecis. Alae posticae fuscae sed ad latus interius late albicantes, puncto ocellari caeco parvo postico versus angulum ani. Subtus anticae fulvo-fuscae basi nigricantes apice cinereae, fascia postica albida abbreviata transversa; inter hanc et marginem posticum ocelli 2 remoti pupilla obsoleta alba, iride nigra albo cincta. Posticae basi fascia lata nigricante extus dentata, fasciola albida irregulari terminata; pone hanc cinereae; ocellis 6 parvis quarum 3 dimidiatis et fere obliteratis, omnibus circulo albo cinctis.
OBS. Simillima praecedenti magnitudine et statura; differt supra magis fulva, subtus magis cinerea; ocelli minores in aequales albo nec fulvo cincti.

Google Translation
Wings yellow, under the eyes of two anterior, posterior 6 spent three years on the list of 3 halves.
Popes. Polydamas target. Flesh. 434?
Rarely inhabited county of Yorkshire. Once we were captured, and sent me to my very good friend P.W. Watson. Image June BOGGY.
Expansion of wings 1 inch. 7 stops.
DESCRIPTION. Image. Antlcae wings grayish-yellow eyes, two rear blind. The wings are brown, but the back door to the inner side of a wide, whitish, point toward the back corner of a small blind ocellari anal. Below the anterior yellow-brown base apex blackish gray, whitish fascia back shortened horizontally, and the margin between the eyes, the back door, 2 remote apple obsolete white, black, white, surrounded by a rainbow. Rear fascia broad base blackish externally toothed, SMALL BANDAGE whitish irregular limited set this gray, with small eyes, 6 of which 3 halves and almost obliterated, all white circle girded.
OBS. Just the previous size and stature, differs more than yellow, under more gray, white or yellow eyes, like the smaller equal girded.

Coenonympha tullia scotica

Original al. supra [al. post. latius] cinereo-marginatis, subt. obscurior ocellis subnull.

Google Translation
al. above [al. after. wider] gray-margined, below. dark eyes and almost nonexistent.

Cheers,

- Pete

A quick translation of the first one (davus) before University Challenge:

Wings entire, reddish yellow [GP’s note : I understand this to mean ‘entire’ as in botany, i.e., without notches, teeth, indentations &c.): the forewings with two eyespots, the hindwings with six, blind (above), pupilled beneath.
Lives in Hamburg (Dr Schulz), Sehestedt in the Kiel region ?? ... Or does that mean, Dr Schulz of Hamburg? Is Hamburgi locative or genitive?
Medium. Forewings yellowish red above with two blind, black eyespots and a tiny, barely discernible, third one; a white band beneath with two eyespots with white pupils. Hindwings dark with five or six blind eyespots; grey beneath with a broken white band, with six black, white-pupilled eyespots, the last one double.

As ever, there were some difficulties! I have no idea what/where Kilonius is but as Sehestedt is near Kiel (north of Hamburg) I have suggested that here. To be verified!! None of my classical Latin dictionaries has the word 'coecus', which I take to be new Latin for 'caecus', 'blind'. That fits perfectly and I'm sure it's right.

Guy

Thanks Guy - your interpretation seems fine to me: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... ies=tullia

You're correct about Kilonii/Kilonius/Kilonia being near Kiel: http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilonia.

Cheers,

- Pete

I forgot about the last two. But before giving my clumsy versions may I congratulate Google Translate on some inspired writing here!! Particularly brilliant was, "posterior 6 spent three years on the list of 3 halves". And I think the translation engine was on drugs when it came up with, "2 remote apple obsolete white, black, white, surrounded by a rainbow".

I go for:

(polydama)
Wings reddish yellow, the forewings with two spots beneath; the hindwings with 6, circled in white, of which three are reduced.
Pap. Polydama Scop. Carn 434?
Very rare in the county of Yorkshire. I was once sent one captured by my very good friend P.W. Watson.
Adult in the month of June, in bogs.
WINGSPAN 1 inch. 7 lin.
DESCRIPTION. Adult. Forewings greyish-fulvous with two blind eyespots towards the outer [edge]. Hindwings dark but whitening broadly towards the inside, with a small, blind, eyelike rear spot towards the anal angle. Beneath, the forewings are dark reddish yellow, blackish towards the base, grey at the apex and with a short, white transverse band; between this and the outer margin are 2 distant eyespots with vestigial white pupils, the iris black, encircled in white. Hindwings with a broad, blackish region at the base, outwardly toothed, bounded by a white, irregular strip; beyond this [they are] grey; with 6 small eyespots of which 3 are reduced and almost lost, all of them encircled with white.
OBS. Similar to the previous one in size; differs above by having more reddish yellow and beneath by more grey; eyespots smaller and unequal, circled with white not reddish yellow.

(scotica)
Wings grey margined above [the hindwings more broadly], the eyespots on the underside being more obscure, virtually absent.

Guy

PS - there are some errors in your copying of the Latin Pete. Check the punctuation (I started referring to the original when an absent comma had me puzzled) and for 'in aequales' read 'inaequales'.

'Unc.' clearly means 'inches' (unciae). I didn't know what 'lin.' meant, but doing a little research I see that inches were traditionally divided into 12 'lines'. So 'lin.' might mean twelfths of an inch.

Guy

Thanks so much Guy. On behalf of everyone here, I'd like to thank you for single-handedly translating every single item, covering 3 different languages! There may be a few more translation requests down the line (when I get hold of the remaining items) but, for now, my sincere thanks. As conveyed here:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_ ... update.php

Cheers,

- Pete