242 Lloyd's natural history. 



peculiar to the Polar and high Alpine regions of the Northern 

 Hemisphere, though one or two are Steppe insects. 



GENUS ARGYROPHORUS. 

 Argyrophorus % Blanch, in Gay, Hist.Chilena, vii., p. 30 (1852). 



THE SILVER BUTTERFLY. ARGYROPHORUS ARGENTEUS. 



Argyrophorus argenieus, Blanch., op.cit., p. 30, pi. 2, figs. 9 11 

 (1852). 



(Plate XXXV., Fig. 2.) 



It is hardly necessary to give any generic characters for this 

 genus, the type of which is one of the most remarkable Butter- 

 flies known, being entirely of a silvery lustre above, resembling 

 silver-paper. Towards the tip of the fore-wings is a brownish 

 spot, not ocellated. The under surface of the fore-wings is 

 similar, but is marked with reddish-tawny towards the base ; 

 the hind-wings are greyish-brown, with a row of imperfectly 

 ocellated brown spots. It measures about two inches across 

 the wings, and is found in the mountains of Chili. It is not a 

 very common species in collections, owing to its habitat being 

 little visited by entomologists. 



VI. Pronophila Group. 



These are large, or more rarely, moderate-sized Butterflies, 

 almost entirely confined to the mountainous regions of Tropical 

 America, where they take the place of our Erebice. They are 

 generally of a black or brown colour, sometimes suffused with 

 red, and often spotted or banded with white, pale yellow, and 

 red. The fore-wings are broad, hardly longer than the hind- 

 wings, with the hind-margin nearly straight, being only slightly 

 curved, and rarely oblique. The hind-wings are generally 

 dentated, sometimes very strongly, and the under surface is 

 more often obscurely marbled than distinctly banded or 



