1864.] 431 



Description of the Female of ARGYNNIS DIANA. 



BY W. H. EDWARDS, NEWBUROH, N. Y. 



Argynnis Diana, % Cramer, pi. 98. 



Say, Am. Ent. 17. 



Female. — Expands nearly four inches. 



Upper side black : primaries have upon their outer third three rows 

 of bluish white spots ; the marginal small, rounded ; the submarginal 

 rectangular, wanting two spots on the costa ; the median of irregular 

 patches, often blue ; on the costa a bluish white patch divided by the 

 nervures. 



Secondaries have a marginal series of bluish white bars, between and 

 reaching to the nervures, the three or four posterior ones broadest and 

 bisected by a black line; a submarginal metallic blue band occupies one- 

 third of the wing, divided by the nervures into oblong spots, each of 

 which, except the two outer ones, has a rounded black spot near its 

 anterior edge. 



Fringes of both wings white, black at the tips of the nervules. 



Under side of primaries black, with a scarcely perceptible greenish 

 tint; apex and hind margin brown ; the marginal and median rows of 

 spots are separated, as also the costal spot, which is much enlarged ; 

 the submarginal row is wanting ; anterior to the median is a row of 

 elongated bluish spots ; in the cell three spots, the largest rhomboidal, 

 the others triangular: a silvery apical spot. 



Secondaries have the basal two-thirds dark red brown, edged without 

 by an incomplete silvery line, which, at the extremities on the margins, 

 expands into triangular spots ; this line is sometimes wholly wanting ; 

 a silvery spot edged with black near the base of the costal nervure, as 

 in the male ; within the arc a black stripe ; the outer third of the wing 

 blackish brown ; hind margin edged with a gray band, above which are 

 narrow silvery crescents. 



Body black above ; dark red brown below. 



From thirty specimens taken upon the Kanawha and Elk Elvers, 

 West Virginia, between the 20th and 31st of August, 1864. In two 

 of these specimens the band upon secondaries is green instead of blue. 



This remarkable butterfly appears to have been hitherto overlooked. 



