Publ. n. IV. 1009. LYCAENA. By Dr A. Seitz. 301 



of its area and appears in two broods, and as it differs in the sexes and, being of imnaense distribution, varies also 

 geographically to a certain extent, a large number of forms have received names, some of which should be sunk as 

 being doubtfully valid, although the lumping together of 5 — 6 different forms under one name, as has been done in 

 the Catalogue of Staudinger-Rebel, is not in agreement with modern methods, according to which constant forms 

 are always kept separate'). — calliopis Bdv. is the form from Southern France: ^larseille, Allier, Grenoble, calliopis. 

 etc. Above very light blue, in the J' with an extremely thin dull black marginal line, the $ below being 

 bright yellow at the margin. The ocelli are very delicate, on a clear ground which has a rosj^ tint. — 

 On the other hand, Russian specimens are described by Staudinger as having a sharper and blacker margin 

 than German ones; probably Eversmann's subsolanus is only an individual form of it, in which the basal suhsolaiuis. 

 half of both wings above is bluish with a little silver, while the underside recalls arion and euphemus. The 

 original specimen of subsolanus came from Irkutsk. Specimens from the Caucasus are said to show affinities 

 with scphyrus (Romanoff), both sexes being very bright blue (= caerulescens Gr.-Grsh.). — argulus Frey arcj^dus. 

 exists not only in the $ but also in the ^, and differs from true argyrognomon in its much inferior size, 

 yellow to brownish underside and usually in its small ocelli. This form has nothing to do with the argus- 

 form aegidion. Like many high alpine forms, argulus occurs also in the low lands in the North; the spe- 

 cimens from there are not distinguishable, but have received the name iapponica Gerh. — In the rare lapponlca. 

 $-ab. unicolor Favre the yellow marginal spots of the hindwing, generally present in ordinary specimens, unk-olor. 

 are wanting. — A similar form occurs in the mountains of Anterior Asia, for instance at Kandahar, and 

 has been named bracteata by Butler. The dark centres of the ocelli of the dull grey underside have very hradeata. 

 conspicuous whitish borders and the marginal band is represented by a chain of oclireous lunules. — 

 tomyris Gr.-Grsh. has been described from a single ? from the Transalai; the underside is said to recall (oniyris. 

 eumedon; easily recognized by the absence of the discal smear; certainly only an individual aberration 

 without 'ocelli beneath. — ganssuensis Gr.-Grsh. is an Asiatic form whose <JcJ are very brightly coloured cjanssiiensis. 

 above, the underside being greyish white with a red-yellow marginal band interrupted at the veins and 

 with small ocelli; from the Sinin Mts. — ■ ab. dubia SchuUz is a somewhat larger form, with the upperside diibia. 

 of the 9$ greyer, the fringes quite white and the underside lighter. Everywhere among the typical 

 form, apparently constant in the East German plains. — planorutn Alplt. (78 c), from Central Asia, is at planor^im. 

 once recognized by the vividly violet-blue upperside of the (J(J. The black outer margin very narrow, the 

 fringes pure white, not chequered as shown in the figure, but hardly at all interrupted at the veins. The 

 yellow marginal band of the underside is pale, the ocelli are little prominent and the metallic scales in 

 the anal area of the hindwing less glossy. In the steppes. — The name dschagatai Gr.-Grsh. may be retained dschacjcdai. 

 for the specimens from the Altai ilts. and maracandica Ersch. for those from the Saraf-shan; the former maracan- 

 are above of a very delicate silky violet-blue with hardly perceivable black edge, while the latter spe- 

 cimens are beneath almost without ocelli. • — aegina Gr.-Grsh. (= regina Riihl) (78 e) is a very robust form aegina. 

 from the Tian-shan in which the underside has the ocelli distinct and the submarginal band so brightly 

 yellowish red that it may be considered a parallel development to, argus insulnris; as in the latter the 

 red-yellow band is proximally bordered by a band of black spots placed close together. On the upperside 

 vegina bears faint traces of marginal dots on the hindwing, which points likewise to argus. — argiva Htgr. (78 e), argivu. 

 from which several forms have been separated (roxane Gr.-Grsh. from the Pamir; calmucca Gr.-Grsh. from roxane. 

 the Chorgos R.) and in which occur $$ with blue upperside (= ab. bactriana Gr.-Grsh.), has the marginal lacirianci. 

 dots of the hindwing above much more distinct, and the upperside of its (^ has a slight lilac tint as in 

 planorum, the black margin being less thin however. — sifanica Gr.-Grsh., from the Dshachar Mts., is a si/anica. 

 large form; dark blue, with broad border and a distinct black discocellular dot. — mellissa Edw. has mellissa. 

 likewise a broad black margin and represents our argyrognomon in North America, but is said to be found 

 by Herz also in Kamtchatka (Ai.pheraky). — A transition to this form is mentioned by Ruhl as mongolica viongolica. 

 Gr.-Grsh., from Mongolia. — A rather large magnificent form is casaiacus Chapm., from Spain, with a casaincus. 

 band of red half-crescents before the outer margin of the hindwing aliove, contrasting strongly with the 



') We add here the following explanation: On the plates the names argus and aegou were employed, as 

 we intended to discard the name ar(7yro!/Ho»((*(( ZJi/N/r., as not being valid because based on an abnormal specimen. On 

 revising the text we find, however, that it is advisable to follow the otherwise very exact Catalogue of Stau- 

 DixuKii -Rebel, since we wish to avoid as far as possible clashing with the price-lists of dealers and the nomen- 

 clature generally adopted in collections. The relation between the names in the text and on the plates is as 

 follows : 



argus L. (aegon Schiff.) is represented by the following figures of PI. 78: 



c7 (named ,, argus o"), 



d 1 (named ,,agon cJ"), 



e (named ,, aegon (J"), 



argyrognomon Bgxtr. (argus Schiff.) is represented by: 



c 8 (named ,, argus ? U"). 



The great confusion caused by the different application of the names aegon and argus by the various 

 authors has also led to the varieties being partly arranged under the wrong species in the catalogues, to which 

 we already drew attention on p. 300. A monographic revision of this group of Lycaena based on the typical 

 specimens, which would elucidate the affinities of the various forms and revise the references in literature, 

 is a great desideratum. 



J 38 



