2"? [January, 



THE LARVH OF AGRIADES DAMON AND PLEBEIUS 

 ARGYROGNOMON. 



BY T. A. CHAPMAN, M.D., F.Z.S. 



(Plates I-VII.) 



In the summer of 1912 I visited the Isere Valley, in which Bourg 

 St. Maurice is a good centre lor Entomology, hut is not equipped with 

 any high-class accommodation. Val d'Isere, a village close to the 

 head of the valley, at 6,060 feet, is also a good centre, and we found 

 the Hotel Parisian, though primitive in its architecture, most 

 satisfactory in all essential respects. As the railway to Bourg St. 

 Maurice was nearing completion, no doubt this district will experience 

 the results of being more accessible, and a better hostelry at that town 

 will probably soon be found. Our excursion was extended over the 

 Petit St. Bernard to Pre St. Didier and Courmayeur. 



My hopes of making some progress in my knowledge of Agriades 

 ihersites on this excursion were disappointed, though I did meet with 

 that species on the wing at Bourg St. Maurice on the last days of my 

 visit. I especially examined carefully the plants of Sainfoin (Onobry- 

 chis) whenever I met with it in quantity, thinking I might meet with 

 the. larva of thersites. This did not happen, but at Pre St. Didier I 

 obtained a number of larvse of A. damon, and in the Val Veni, at 

 somewhere about 5,000 feet, again found it sparingly along with an 

 abundance of those of P. argyrognomon. Both these larvae have been 

 figured, and though they can hardly be said to be well known, are still 

 no novelties, and P. argyrognomon has received some attention as the 

 species whose relations with ants have perhaps been most often referred 

 to. I think, however, that the further short notes on my experience 

 of these in 1912 will not be entirely superfluous. 



The previous figures of these larvae that I have been able to find 

 are : — 



Scriba, Beytrage (1790-1793) III, Tab. XV— both species. 



Hiibner, Geschichte Raimen (1806-1818). 



Damon (on Onobrychis), Lep. J, Pap. II, gens. A.a. 2. A good figure. 



Argyrognomon (on Melilotus officinalis), Lep. I, Pap. II, gens. A. a. a. I. 

 Also good. 



Duponchel. Damon, Icon. Chen. (1832-1842), PI. VI, fig. 20, (on Onobry- 

 chis). Poor copy from Hiibner. 



Argyrognomon, I.e., PI. X, fig. 22, from Hiibner. 



