f,M. 2.0. XlL 08. PARARGE. By Dr. A. Settz. 133 



17. Grenus: Pararge Hhn. 



We place into this genus some 40, almost exclusively Palaeartic forms, which belong perhaps to 

 about a dozen species and are distributed from Madeira and the Canaries throughout Europe. North Africa 

 and North Asia to the east coast of Japan. There is. we think, no real necessity for splitting up this genus into 

 several and applying special names for the few groups (Amecera, Loxioinmata, Safi/nis, etc.). These groups come 

 very near each other morphologically and biologicalh'. All pHrarc/e generally have thin antennae, with a feebly 

 marked and somewhat flattened club. The palpi are moderately long, erect, beneath rough with bristly hairs, the 

 end-segment being short. Eye hairy. Wings entire, the hindwing with the margin undulate, sometimes dentate- 

 On the forewing the bases of the subcostal, median and sometimes, but to a lesser degree, of the submedian 

 are inflated, the precostal of the hindwing is forked. The colour of the species of Parfirge varies from dark 

 brown to red-3'enow, the wings being differently marked with spots of these tints, sometimes one tint l)eing 

 prevalent. The forewing has always an apical ocellus, which is mostly isolated and distinctl}- prominent, or 

 may also become indistinct among the spots appearing on the surrounding area. The hindwing has a row 

 of ocelli which are always distinct beneath, but sometimes only vestigial above. On both wings there 

 appear accessory ocelli, as in most Satyrids, which has been an inducement for proposing a number of 

 names. But since the most multifarious combinations of such individual deviations may be repeated in all 

 forms of Pararge, hundreds of new names would have to be introduced, if the naming of all known valua- 

 tions were strictly carried through. As in the case of S<itijniK we confine ourselves to mentioning only 

 those varieties which are of some importance , being either geographical races , or showing some local cha- 

 racteristic, or being commonly recurring aberrations. — The larvae taper in front and behind, bear a dense, 

 thin and very short pubescence, are of green colour and live on grass, their head ])eing globular. The pupae 

 are rounded in front, suspended bv the tail, the abdomen being strongly convex. The butterflies occur rarely 

 in one brood only, having generally 2 , sometimes several broods , which exhibit remarkably little seasonal 

 variation. They are often local, but nearly always abundant. They fly in sunshine, settling either on the 

 bare ground in the woods, on rocks, boulders and walls, or pitch on shrubs and leaves. They visit flowers 

 and also imbibe the sap exuding from wounds of the forest-trees. The tlight is not swift , but unsteady, 

 rocking or tottering. In South Europe some appear to hibernate, at least I met at the Riviera, on excep- 

 tionally warm and sunny days in December and January, with worn specimens of F. megeni , which dis- 

 appeared again when the cold set in. 



P. aegeria. Dark brown, spotted with pale or brownish yellow, the spots being smaller in the cf, 

 larger in the ?; forewing on both sides with a pupilled apical ocellus; hindwing ^vtth a submarginal row of 

 3 — 7 ej^e-rings, above dark in the disc, marmorated beneath, bearing sometimes an irregular median band. 

 From Madeira and the Canaries throughout Europe (except the highest North) and Africa north of the Sahaia 

 to Asia Minor, the Caucasus and Ural. — egerjdes Sfgr. (= aegeria Esp.) (45a) is the pale spotted form egerides. 

 from Central and North Europe, the underside of the hindwing being olive-green, variegated with brown. 

 Early in the spring and again from July onwards. — intermedia Tri- /;<'«. (45 a), from the Riviera, especially intermedia. 

 the neighbourhood of Geneva, has some of the spots whitisli yellow, the others being shaded with brownish 

 yellow, at least at their edges. On road-sides in the woods and in the beds of brooks, throughout the sum- 

 mer, in several broods. — In the first-described form, aegeria /v. (= meone Esp.) (45 a), all the spots of the aegeria. 

 upperside are reddish yellow, the dark ground-colour as well as the whole underside being tinged with 

 red-yellow. This southern form occurs everywhere on the Mediterranean coasts, in Spain, Portugal, South 

 Italy, North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, etc., in the south of the Balcan Peninsula, Syria and Asia Minor. In 

 the warmer districts the butterfly is on the wing all through the year, tlie numerous broods overlapping. — 

 xtphioides Sfgy. (45a), from the Canary Islands, has the upperside darker on account of the smaller ?inA xiphioides. 

 more red-brown spots, while the underside of the hindwing is lighter, less marmorated and provided with a 

 distinct median band, the costal part of which is shaded with white. — xiphia F. (45a), from Madeira, is xiphia. 

 the largest and darkest form, with the almost unicoloi'ous underside brilliantlj" shaded with golden red, the 

 median band of the hindwing being but indicated by vestigial spots at the costa. — Egg round, white, reti- 

 culated. Larva very minutely and densely pubescent, with a globular head ; green, with a pale-edged dark 

 dorsal line and a yellowish lateral double stripe; spiracles j^ellow. Pupa green or brown-yellow, the wing- 

 cases being pale at the edges ; very close the ground , often fastened on stones , etc. , hibernating. The 

 buttei"fly belongs all through Europe to one of the commonest species. From April into June and again from 

 .luly through the summer in woods of leaved trees, the butterflies playing together on the roads and in jilaces 

 where the sun penetrates through the leafy roof. The flight is irregular, tottering or flopping. In most 

 localities in North Africa the form nci/cria flying there is the commonest buttei'fly. but does not occur 

 there in the woods, but is found in the shade of single bushes on sunn\- hill-sides. On Teneritfe 1 met with 

 the form occuring there, xiphioiden, especially often on the fallow-fields of the former Cochenille-plantations 

 where single Opuntias were growing. 



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