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The N. American Species of the genus Lycaena. 



I can find no sufficient grounds for retaininjj- the genus Clirysoplianus or Polyommatus for the copper- 

 coloured species, as there really seems to be, in the Lycaenidie of tiiis country and Europe, no particular 

 characteristics that are sufficiently constant to separate the red and tiie blue species into different genera. 



The colour and ornamentation amounts to but little; in some species the males are blue and the females 

 red or brown, as in Sayiolus and TIeteronen ; in others both sexes arc brown, as Agestis,* EurypiiH,s,\ etc., or, 

 again, both are blue, as Lucia, Argiolus,X and many others ; and Heteronea, though the male is blue, is cer- 

 tainly much nearer to the copper-coloured Shius and Gorgon than it is to such other blue species as Lueia, 

 Lygdamns or Comyntas. 



Neither is the presence or absence of a tail to the secondaries of the least moment, as these appendages are 

 found in some of the fiery-coloured species as well as in many of the blue ones; as instances of the former, I 

 would mention Arota, Virginieiisis and Lampon,^ and of the latter, Comyntas, Tejua, Balkanicu \\ and Theo- 

 phrastus.^ In some species the spring brood is tailless, whilst the summer generation of the same insect is 

 provided with those ornaments. 



In good truth I cannot see why all the N. American and European species, except the few contained in 

 Eumaeus, Hub., should not be embraced within "jne genera, even including the Theclas, for on examination of 

 these latter we find the same diversity of form and colour as in the others, some tailed, others destitute of those 

 appurtenances, some brown, others blue, etc. ; between Afotn or Virginiensiii and Niphon ** there is certainly 

 no more difference than between Niphon and Me/inus ft or between Melinm and Grunuft.H 



Lederer retained the two groups, Folyommatus and Lyctena, but arranged under the former the fiery or 

 copper-coloured species, and such blue ones as Op^«7e<p,SS ^e5fo»i,|||| Battus,11i and in the latter the Theclas and 

 such other blue or brown ones as Corydon,*** Z)amon, fft Telic(inuji,lXX etc. 



Hubner divided them into many groups or genera, not always placing the most closely allied together; 

 for whilst he has his genus Eumaeus, (containing E. Minyas,>it%^) placed in the same sub-family and immedi- 

 ately preceding Nomiades, which contains Damon, ^/.s-us,|||||| and allies, he has, not very felicitously, placed be- 

 tween this and Chi-ysophanus (copper species) not only nine genera, but has even put the latter in another sub- 

 family. 



At a time when comparatively tew species were known, there might have appeared plausible grounds for 

 separating the red from the blue species, but since the many later perplexing and curious intermediate forms 

 have been discovered in Asia Minor, Persia and California, the frail foundation on which the distinction was 

 founded has not been equal to the task of sustaining it ; and the Lyciiena, like the great genus Papilio, will 

 not bear disruption without violence. 



I subjoin a list of all the described species of N. America. 



Those that are unknown to me in nature are prefixed with a f. 



Those that are wanting to my collection are designated by a *. 



Such as I possess the author's original types of, are denoted by a X- 



The numbers over some species are the numbers attached to the figures of same species on plate X, thus 

 " 29 c^, 30 ?, Sirius, Edwards. " 



To such as I have figured I have added no descriptions, as whether there be figures or uot, the descriptions 

 of such things are little better than waste of time, although to such as I have no other knowledge of I have 

 quoted the author's diagnosis in full. 



* L)-cana Agestis, Hubner, {Papilio A.) Eur. Sdimett. I, f. 303-30o, (1798-1803). 

 t Lycrena Eurypilus, Freyer, Neuere Beitrage, VI, t. 573, f. 4, (1852). 

 J Lycoena Argiolus, Lin., (Papilio A.) Fauna Svecica, p. 284, (17(511. 



i Lycsena Lampon, Lederer, (Polyommatus L.) Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross, VIII, p. 8, t. 1, (1870). 

 II Lyaena Balkanica, Freyer, Neuere Beitrage, V, t. 421, (1844). 

 II Lycajna Theophrastus, Fabricius, (Hesperia T.) Ent. Svs. Ill, 1, p. 281, (1793). 

 **Thecla Niphon, Hubner, (LU^m N.) Zutr. Ex. Schmett., f. 203, 204, (1823). 

 ttThecla Melinus, Hubner, (Strymones M.) Zutr. Ex. Schmett,, f. 121, 122, (1818). 

 XX Thecla Grunus, Boisduval, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., p. 289, (1852). 

 If Lyciena Optilete, Knoch, [Papilio 0.) Beit. Ins. Ges. I., p. 76, t. 5, (1781). 

 III! Lyc«na Aegon, Schifferiniller & Dennis, (Papilio A.) Wien. Verz. p. 185, (1776). 

 tH Lyca;na Battus, (Papilio £.) Schift'. Wieu. Verz. p. 185, (1776). 

 *** Lycaena Corydon, Poda, {Papilio O.) Musei Graecensis, p. 77, (1761). 

 ttt Lyctena Damon, Schift., {PapUio D.) Wien. Verz., p. 182, (1776). 

 tXX Lycsena Telicanu.s, Lang, (Papilio T.) Verzeichniss Schmett. p. 47, (1789). 

 l\'i Eumaeus Minyas, Hubner, (Riisticus Adolescens M.) Samml. Exot. Schmett., ( 1806-1816 >. 

 mill Lyciena Alsus, Schili:, {Papilio A.) Wien. Verz. p. 184, (1776). 



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