236 THE entomologist's record. 



sperchon, arj/iades, coretas, and decolorata. To this we would add 

 (5) its apparently rare and casual occurrence as an aberration of L. 

 arrfiades throughout the greater part of Kussia, Germany, and Central 

 Europe, thus contrasting with its special development and isolation in 

 the Valais, certain parts of France, etc. 



All these points want careful examination before the specific dis- 

 tinciness of alcetas can be fully granted. With regard to them we 

 may note (1) closely allied species often occur as first and second 

 broods at the same time, on the same ground, under similar conditions, 

 e.q., A</yiades bellari/us and A. corijdon in the Alpes-Maritimes ; Cupido 

 sebrus and C. minima in the Valais, Basses- Alpes, etc. (2) The seasonal 

 dimorphism of size (small vernal form) may be due to a parallelism of 

 the life-habits of the early stages ; the seasonal dimorphism of colour 

 may be more marked than Rebel suggests, for Aigner-Abafi says of 

 coretas, " the ? rarely tinged with blue," and we know that the 

 early brood of argiades is sometimes much tinged with blue, 

 (3) Are " the orange-red crescents," and " the silver kernels to caudal 

 spots," really differential characters ? We think the orange crescents 

 are, although it is true that alcetas sometimes has a faint trace of such 

 crescents, and that the weakest argiades have barely more than a 

 trace, but may not this be mere parallelism in allied species of a common 

 chLracter ? The silver kernels are very uncertain, only two of our 

 long series of argiades, and very few examples of those in the British 

 Museum collection, show them ; we have seen no alcetas with them. 

 As bearing on their uncertain nature, it is to be noted that an 

 occasional specimen of Polyommatus esclteri may bear them. (4) The 

 genitalia of alcetas and argiades differ apparently constantly in 

 minute particulars according to Chapman's dissections. (5) This we 

 consider the most difficult point to explain ; why should alcetas occur 

 as an occasional rare aberration among argiades, in both broods, in 

 places where it appears to have no racial standing ? Of course the 

 records of this occurrence are often made by collectors none too far ad- 

 vanced. Can it be that most (or all) of these examples are wrongly 

 named by persons confused by the misuse of the various names ? 

 [Selys-Longchamps paper {Mem. Soc. Roy. Sci. Liege, ii., pt. 1, p. 31) 

 well shows the state of muddle even of the best lepidopterists ; he 

 defines coretas as "having the fulvous anal lunule very small, the 

 ocellated spots on the underside small, and the hindwings almost 

 without the little tail (which would suggest a specific difference) ; " 

 he further defines " poh/sperchon (which he says =tiresias, Hb.)" as 

 " of small size without the yellow h i lies at the anal angle." If 

 Selys-Longchamps was in this state of mind, what might mere 

 collectors be recording as coretas /] The distribution of coretas wants 

 careful determination and study. 



There are, in the British Museum collection, five <? s and five 5 s 

 (mixed with several small argiades, some of Zeller's bred polysperchon, 

 etc.) under the name coretas, also one <? and one $ under the name 

 of decolorata. These twelve are all eastern (as far as labelled) speci- 

 jxiens — Slivno, Bagovitza, Eperjes. They are all characteristic alcetas, 

 to be determined on the underside at a glance (1) by the uniform 

 ground colour, (2) by the roundness of the spots, (3) by the angula- 

 tion of the submarginal roAV of spots on the forewings, (4) by the 

 character of the spots at the base of the caudal appendages, which 



