360 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS [Oct., '15 



then is his description of the species which we call piasus? 

 The western form of ladon, Cramer (pseudargiolus, B. and 

 LeC.) has strong enough characteristics to warrant the as- 

 sumption that Boisduval would describe it. 



In the description of L. piasus Boisduval states that it has 

 white fringes. The fringe of sagittigera is very heavily cut 

 with black, especially on the primaries, so much so in fact 

 that the fringe might be described as white with black spots 

 at the ends of the veins. None of the other California spe- 

 cies of this genus except sonorensis approaches sagittigera in 

 this characteristic. 



Finally, Boisduval gives a brief tell-tale note of piasus' hab- 

 its. He states that it flits about in spring and summer in the 

 woods. This is peculiar characteristic of L. ladon including 

 its western form L. piasus. They frequent the thickets and 

 light woods and are not commonly seen out in the open 

 spaces as are nearly all the other Lycaenae. I have a long 

 series of perfect sagittigera and have never seen them in a 

 similar locality. They were all taken in the open country fly- 

 ing low about the flowers, weeds and short brush. 



If Oberthiir's illustration, labelled piasus, really represents 

 a true sagittigera, is it not probable that the labels have been 

 mixed? I presume there will be considerable discussion of 

 this matter before a definite conclusion is made. I have a 

 number of spare specimens of L. sagittigera from the vicinity 

 of Los Angeles and will be very glad to send samples to any- 

 one desiring them for comparative study. 



Boisduval's Lycaena piasus and Lycaena rhaea (Lcp.). 



By HENRY SKINNER. 



Mr. Haskin has raised a question that may be solved ac- 

 cording to the weight of evidence. His contention is based 

 on the probability of the labels being mixed. The figure 1950 

 given by Mr. Oberthiir as piasus, represents what we always 

 called sagittigera Felder. It is a very variable species and 

 specimens without the checkered fringes are sometimes found. 

 We have one specimen in the collection of the Academy that 



