NKW FORMS OF AGRIADES CORIDON FROM HERTS. 59 



New and interesting forms of Agriades coridon from Herts. 



By C. P. PICKETT, F.E.S. 



A note in the January number of this magazine, under the 

 heading " Societies," refers to the exhibition, by Mr. L. W. Newman, 

 of a series of A<iriade>i coridon, including an asymmetrical female with 

 wings of one side smaller than those of the other, and well dusted 

 with blue scaling. These were taken (I presume, in August, 1913) in 

 the Herts district. 



At first this note strikes one as referring to an aberration but very 

 little out of the ordinary. However, to me it is quite a distinct form, 

 and quite out of the ordinary when one comes to know how few of this 

 particular form have really been taken. This specimen, although I 

 have not seen it, I believe came from the exact spot which I have been 

 working for the past three seasons, and one wonders if it has come 

 from a special stock. During August, 1911, I came across a similar 

 specimen, and Avas much struck at the extreme contrast of the two 

 sides in size and markings, a contrast which gave one the impression 

 that the two sides were from two distinct females. I searched hard in 

 the same spot for a week, and managed to get four further specimens 

 of this form. They all have one side more or less dusted strongly with 

 blue, in the most extreme specimen the contrast of the two sides is 

 very striking. In some specimens the area of the wings on one side is 

 only about half the area of those on the other side. The shapes of the 

 wings are also very divergent in some specimens, the wings on the 

 one side being of the usual square form, whilst those on the other side 

 are more elongated. 



I am not at all satisfied that these specimens are merely asym- 

 metrical females, and I thmk if they be put into expert hands we shall 

 find out something quite new in /[(jriadea coridon. As I was thus 

 interested so much in this form, I gave the whole of my time during 

 August, 1912, working the same spot day after day, and was rewarded 

 by the capture of eight more specimens, all of which are certainly very 

 fine examples of this form. It would seem that these specimens may 

 originally have come from one brood, and that the strain has passed 

 on from one generation to another. I again visited the same spot in 

 August, 1913, and succeeded in getting another six specimens of this 

 aberration during a week's stay. Thus in the three years I have taken 

 no less than nineteen specimens, and one would like to know if others 

 have been taken besides these and the one recorded by Mr. L. W. 

 Newman. 



With regard to the form of A. coridon called ab. seiiri-fiijnuropJia, 

 I do not remember ever to have seen it so common as it was in the 

 summer of 1913. The females of the species were certainly in great 

 predommance over the males, and were extremely abundant. One 

 often saw quite fifty at a time flying in a mass and generally one or 

 more ab. senri-ayw/rapha could be seen dodging among them. One 

 curious fact, that was apparent, was, that the seini-si/ni/rap/ia form was 

 always being pursued by the other females, who appeared to take this 

 aberration for a male. In fact this strange habit was often taken 

 advantage of by the collector to recognise and obtain the form. 

 Several of the seini-sijnurapha are almost complete nijnprapha. I 

 wondered what had become of the males in the August of 1913, for 



