220 A CATALOGUE OF THE LEPIDOPTERA OF 



band is wanting. Taking next the Scotch form, we find, that 

 although the great bulk of the specimens have the black centres 

 of the ocelli suppressed, still they are not always so ; for not a 

 few that I have examined possess them, and it is probable that 

 one of these latter specimens furnished Mr. Stephens with his 

 variety /S. We see, therefore, that the variation of these ocelli, 

 or spots, instead of furnishing a means of separating the Agestis 

 form from the Artaxerxes^ in reality links them together, and, by 

 means of Salmacis, completes their identity. 



Thus we find all the three points of supposed specific distinc- 

 tion fail when rigidly tested, and the discovery of the larva of 

 Agestis feeding on the Helianthemum alone needed to settle the 

 point beyond doubt or question ; for Mr. Bond informs me he has 

 in his cabinet a chrysalis of the southern Agestis, which is ex- 

 actly like one of Artaxerxes sent him by Mr. Logan. Nor do I 

 think this discovery at all unlikely. The domestic habits — if 

 the expression may be allowed — of the Polyommati are well 

 known to all Entomologists. They never roam far from home, 

 like most of our Butterflies, but confine their flight to a few 

 yards around their native places. Now, Mr. Logan has proved 

 the connection that exists between the larva of Artaxerxes and 

 this plant, and I have traced the range of it and our Salmacis 

 in conjunction therewith from Eichmond to Kincardineshire. 

 Let us notice how far a similar connection appears to hold good 

 with Agestis. It is somewhat remarkable that long before the 

 above facts as to Artaxerxes had even been suspected, the southern 

 Agestis and the Helianthemum were associated together. Dr. 

 Jordan, in a communication to the "Zoologist" for 1844 (p. 

 348), on the occurrence of the Polyommati in South Devon, says: 

 "P. Agestis, double-brooded, May and August; local; frequents 

 rocky places in w^oods. I took it in considerable plenty in Bradley 

 Woods, near Newton, Devon, settling on the flowers of the 

 Helianthemum vulgare, though I did not see a single specimen 

 until I came to the rock where this plant was growing." In 

 reply to my inquiries as to this point, Mr. Cooke writes me : 

 " I have never taken Agestis, except in localities where the He- 

 liantheminn grows freely. The wild Geraniums do grow her« 



