PAPILIO. 



Prgan of tl^e flew Jork pntomological piub. 



Vol.111,] May and June, 1883. [Nos. 5 and 6. 



XOTE. — Owing to the absence of the Editor from New York, it was impossible to produce the 

 May number in proper time. It is hoped that the contents of this double number will compensate for 

 the delay. (Issued July lo, 1883.) 



ON THE POLYMORPHISM OF LYCtENA PSEU- 

 DARGIOLUS. BOIS. 



By W. H. Edwards. 



This paper, nearly in its present form, was read at the Montreal meeting of the Am. Assn. 

 in 1882. Some additions and alterations have been rendered necessary by the receipt 

 of Mr. Morrison's collections of 1881, and by further information respecting L. Piasus. 



Coalburgh, W. Va., April i, 1883. 



L. Pseudargiolus received its specific name in 1833, ^^t Abbot 

 had figured it in 1797, Ins. Ga., as Argiolus, mistaking it for the 

 European species of that name. In 1862, I described as Neglecta 

 what has since been found to be a co-form with Pseudaro-iobis, in 

 W. Va., and the usual northern type of the summer generation. 

 I also described L. Violacea, from W. Va., in 1866. At that time, 

 very little was known of the polymorphism of butterflies, seasonal 

 or other, and, moreover, that was a phenomenon which was only 

 discoverable by breeding from the ^%'g, and nothing whatever 

 was known of the preparatory stages ot any one of these sup- 

 posed species. 



Kirby had described L. Lucia, in Fauna Boreali Americana, 

 in 1S37, and, fortunately, had given a well executed and colored 

 figure of it. His description does not agree with his figure, 

 varying in several important particulars ; but as he says that only 

 one specimen was taken by the Expedition, I apprehend that 

 the careful figure should be our guide, rather than the less careful 

 description, especially as the figure really represents a common 

 boreal form of the butterfly. The description says : " Wings 

 above silvery-blue ; the secondaries are brown underneath and 

 spotted zoith black and zvhite ; towards the posterior margin the 

 white spots are arranged in a transverse band parallel with it, and, 

 as in the primaries, the zving terminates in several obsolete eyelets^ 

 The synopsis of character which precedes the description differs 



