236 



ARGYNNIS. By Dr. A. Spitz. 



Region and to North India, and from North Europe to the oases of the Sahara, being absent however from 

 the Pacific districts (Amurland, Eastern China and Japan). In some individuals the black spots of the upperside 

 are united to form stripes and horseshoe-figures, wliich happens especially in the autumn broad. Sometimes 

 the whole upperside is blackened, the wings being marked with brownisli only along the veins; this is ab. 

 obscurascens. obscurascens Schultz. ab. valdensis Esp. (;= lathona Hbn.) not only is uniformly black above, but the silver 

 vatdensis. of the underside is so extended that the hindwing and the apex of the forowing are entirely silvery, except at 

 paradoxa. the veins. In ab. paradoxa /^ftcAs the silver is extended, hut the upperside is not black, the hindwing above 

 bearing irregular silver-spots. — lathonia does not vary much geographically. I found at Zermatt, in Wallis, 

 at 1600 m, remarkably large specimens with the silver-spots about twice the ordinary size. — Specimens from 

 satiimta. the Taurus, saturata Rob., are a transition to the Himalayan form; they are distinguished by a reddish brown 

 darkening between the silver-spots of the underside on the fore- and hindwing; the upperside is paler yellow.' 

 isaea. — The Himalayan form, isaea Gray (69a), is considerably paler above, especially at the margin. On the under- 

 side the disc of the forewing is a much duller colour, the silver-spots are larger, the anal one especially is 

 prolonged, extending often (not always) as a halfband to near the apex of the cell. Throughout the Himalayas, 

 in Kashmir, Tibet as far as West China, southward reaching India (Sikkim). — Egg conical, flattened above, 

 white, with flexuose ribs. Larva dark grey, with red spines and black head; a well-defined dorsal line white, 

 the membrane between the segments and a lateral line brownish yellow; on violets, presumably also on other 

 plants, from June until April. Pupa golden brown, with a white belt, yellow dorsal line, white tips to the 

 wing-cases and small golden dorsal tubercles. Several broods, which arc not sharply separated, the butterfly 

 is on the wing from April till the end of October and appears to hibernate with us, as one finds very faded and 

 worn specimens as early as April and quite fresh ones late in October. According to exact observations also 

 the larva hibernates and sometimes the pupa. The butterflies have a fast swimming flight; they fly up and down 

 sunny roads and love to settle with spread wings on the ground. They frequently visit Leontodon and also 

 thistles and scabious, and are everywhere common, but never occur in very large numbers. The ah. valdensis 

 has been found in many localities, always as a rare exception. 



Clara. A. clara Blanch. The pattern of the upperside recalls small specimens of A. aglaja; at once rocognized 



by the underside, the base and middle of the hindwing bearing long, strcak-liko, silver-spots on a greenish ground. 

 Before the margin a row of triangular silver-spots. The disc of the forewing beneath of a greenish or greyish 

 clarina. yellow tint; from Kashmir. — clarina Stgr. (69a) has the black markings of the upperside reduced and is not 

 strongly dusted with dark scaling, the silver-spots of the underside being reduced and partly obsolete; from 

 manis. Amdo. — manis Fruhst. (= claudia Fawc.) (69a) is the eastern form, from Tibet and the adjacent districts 

 of the Indian Himalayas (Sikkim), in which especially the $ is much dusted with black above; the verdigris 

 dusting of the underside is more conspicuous than in the other forms. — clara appears to be restricted to the 

 range of the Himalaya, where it is widely distributed and is apparently not rare in summer. 



ehsa. A. elisa Godt. {^= cyrene Bon., eliza Lang) (69b). The same size as clara, but distinctly a transition to 



aglaja. Rather A'ariable, above fiery brown-red to light orange-yellow, the black markings rather small and 

 at the distal margin almost obsolete. The hindwing beneath entirely dusted over with green, sometimes a 

 small patch before the distal margin excepted; the silver-spots numerous but small, angular, sometimes reduced 

 to heavy dots or comma-spots, the central ones having usually a dark edge. — The species is restricted to the 

 mountains of Corsica and Sardinia, where it is locally abundant in Juno and July, for instance on the Monte 

 Gennargentu near Lanusei. 



aglaja. A. aglaja L. (69b). The largo fritillary is fiery reddish yellow above, the basal area of the ? being always 



duller. The markings are constant: a black margin, a row of deep block but thin marginal arcs, a very straight, 

 central row of dots, of which only the last one of the forewing is shifted distad; between this row of dots and the 

 base there are six thin black transverse bands extending from the subcostal vein into the wing. The underside 

 of the hindwing is characteristic; it bears numerous silver-spots on a partly verdigris partly leather-yellow 

 ground, but never a row of ocelli in the marginal area, as is the case in the forms of niobe and adippe. A. 

 aglaja occurs throughout Europe, with the exception of the Canaries (which belong to Africa geographically), 

 also throughout North and East Asia, in a number of different forms. — Already in Turkey, but especially 

 ottomana. in Asia Minor, there occurs a special form, ottomana Rob. (69b); larger, the upperside deep red-brown, with 

 the base greenish, not blackish. On the underside tiie silver-spots are entirely absent from the apex of tlie 

 forewing and reduced in size on the hindwing. The yellow distal band on the hindwing beneath is reduced 



