AGRIADES THERSITES. 253 



The second reference is in the Systenia Naturae, 10th ed., 1758, 

 p. 483:— 



" Arrjus, 152, 803 and 804 F.8:'% in Rhamno, Europfe, Africa?." 



" Idas, 192, p. 488. P.B. alis nigris concoloribus, punctis lOflavis 

 ovatis sparsis, in Tndiis." 



This species is here described under Fapilio Barbarus, which is a 

 heterogeneous group of species, all of which are stated to come from 

 " in Indiis." The word Barbarvs evidently indicates merely that 

 they were foreigners, and possibly in some cases that he hardly knew 

 where to place them. The description exactly suits an Indian female 

 of P. icaras. 



The next reference is the 2nd Ed. of F. Stiecica, 1761, p. 253: — 



"No. 1,074, arnus, sp. 803." 



This is followed on by 



" No. 1,075, Idas, sp. 804, 805." 



Here he adopts the name idas for No. 804 in the Si/ste)iia Naturae, 

 and makes no reference to the idan he described in that work, probably 

 having forgotten it, as it was not in his collection, and in the absence 

 of the type I look upon that idas as the female of our icaras : but he 

 also adopts the name idas for No. 805 of the F. Sitec. Now 805 and 

 806 are placed together in the Si/st. Nat., under the name " rubi 154." 

 It is quite evident that Linnteus himself got mixed up here; there is 

 an error somewhere, for 805 cannot be both an/us and rubi. In the 

 Ed. XII., Sj/st. Nat. (1767), he still uses (wrongly, according to our 

 present ideas, for idas was preoccupied in the group) idas for aryus $ , 

 but he states that it is the female of aryns. 



These are the facts of the case as it now reveals itself to us, and 

 in spite of the fact that Linnjeus stated his second idas was the 

 •female of aryus, and in spite also of the fact that Dr. Verity himself 

 states that he himself is in doubt as to whether the one specimen is 

 really the 2 of aryyrnyninnon, though he inclines to that opinion, he 

 still ventures to substitute idas for the well-established name aryyroy- 

 nonion. 



I regret I cannot follow him here, though, of course, I certainly 

 accept raiiibnri for idas, Ramb. It should be borne in mind that the 

 fact that he had already described a species as idas makes a second idas, 

 whether blue or brown, impossible from the purely nomenclatorial point 

 of view. A very great many of Dr. Verity's alterations are made on 

 the assumption that the specimens in the Linnean collection are types, 

 and therefore the races are nimotypical. This assumption cannot, I 

 think, bear a minute investigation, and if there is any doubt what- 

 -ever, I feel strongly that no nomenclatorial change should be made. 



Agriades thersites, its distribution and variation in the Rhone Valley. 



By B. C. S. WARREN, F.E.S. 



In the early spring I had the good fortune to come across Ayriades 

 thersites on the banks of the Gryonne river. It was very abundant 

 and seemed to be distributed over most of the neighbouring country. 



In Dr. Chapman's paper on A. thersites (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 



* It will be observed that Linnaeus here writes 803 Argus oculatus, and 804 

 Argus fusciis. 



