Pi,bl. 30. IV. 1900. LYCAEXA. Bij Dr. A. Snt;. 30'J 



colour ill (istrurche is hut vestigial in psrjlorita, and is dull and scarcely recognizable. Crete, on high 

 mountains, especially on the Ida, near the snow-line, fairly common in June. 



L. astrarche Bgstr. {= medon Hufn., agestis Schiff., idas Gerh. (?), nazira Moore) (79 k). Above astrarche. 

 similar to the preceding, deep dark brown, with strongly marked discocellular spot, especially in the (J. 

 Typical specimens have this spot black and bear red spots at the outer margin. Underside with numerous 

 ocelli, the hindwing with a pale smear from the apex of the cell to the centre of the outer margin. From 

 Scandinavia to the Sahara and northern India, and from the Canary Isles to the island of Askold in the 

 Pacific, ascending in the mountains up to 10,000 ft. (Doherty). — Besides accidental aberrations in the 

 usual directions of variation, a number of seasonal and geographical froms have been established. If the 

 spring-brood of the Central European form is regarded as name-typical astrarche, ab. aestiva Sigr. is the aestiva. 

 name for the second brood, which occurs regularly in the south and more rarely in the north and which 

 connects astrarche with calida Bell. (79 k, 80 a). The latter has a much darker, almost coffee-brown, under- caUda. 

 side, with a broader band of red spots. On the other hand, ab. albicans Aur., which occurs singly, being allAcan.^. 

 more frequeiit in the north, has an unusually pale underside. — In specimens from the Canaries the red 

 macular band of the upperside is occasionally quite uncommonly broad and of even width, so that it 

 forms a regular band, only transsected by the black veins; this is ab. cramera Eschsch. (= canariensis cramera. 

 Black.) (80 a). I also caught very extreme specimens of this form on the slopes of the Aures Mts. in 

 Algeria, although only singly; on the other hand I met on the Canaries with specimens of astrarche which 

 certainly did not belong to cramera, but rather to calida. — The red band of spots, instead of being 

 enlarged, may also become obsolete; this is frequently the case in specimens from the Alps and constantly 

 in those from Amurland; this is allous Hbn. (79 k). A very small similarly developed form, alpina Stgr., cipina, 

 has been described from the Parnassus. — • montana Riihl-Heyne has weak but visible traces of red, and is monlana. 

 mostly considerably larger; from Andalusia. — In specimens from certain districts and in some seasonal 

 forms the broadening of the band of red spots is combined with an especially pale silvery grey underside, 

 instead of a dark one as in calida and cramera. This form is constant in South Russia and many districts 

 of anterior Asia and is then called sarmatis Gr.-Grsh. — But also in South Europe and North Africa occur sarmatis. 

 similar specimens, which have received the name ab. ornata Stgr. (80 a). — A very conspicuous form is ornata. 

 that of Great Britain, artaxerxes F. (80 a), in which the discocellular spots on the forewing are whitish artaxerxes. 

 instead of black; the red spots may be more (artaxerxes) or less (ab. vedrae Harr.) developed, or even be vedrae. 

 absent (ab. semi-allous Harr.), being sometimes accompanied by pale dots (ab. albimaculata Harr.). The "^^^'""'^"' 

 pale cell-spot, too, is variable; it is well developed on the forewing alone in name-typical artaxerxes from 

 Scotland, is very small and hardly visible in the English form ab. inclara Harr., and present on both indara. 

 wings in ab. quadripunctata Tutt. in ab. salmacis this white middle spot has a dark centre on the under- j,j(,jp;f,^„ 

 side.') ab. brunnescens Harr. has dark fringes. — Egg pale green, flattened, with the top concave and bnmnesccns. 

 the surface minutely reticulate (TuTT, Harrison, Gillmer). Larva light green, with a purple dorsal stripe 

 and a similar stripe along the sides, between them oblique pale smears; in spring and summer (in the 

 south throughout the year) on various plants, such as Helianthemum, Centaurea, Erodium, etc. Pupa pale 

 yellowish green, sometimes with a brown dorsal stripe, on or near the ground. The butterflies are on the 

 wing in May and again from July onward, in the south the whole summer until the autumn, in several 

 broods. They fly everywhere, in fields, on field-paths, on rocky hills, even in gardens, always close to the 

 ground and belong to the very commonest butterflies. During the hours of flight they settle with spread 

 wings on blades of grass, blossoms, or clods of earth, while they sleep with closed wings generally hidden 

 under umbels and the inflorescences of grasses. 



L. chinensis Murr. (= mandschurica Stgr.). Above like astrarche. but the fringes spotted. Beneath chinensis. 

 the reddish yellow submarginal band is neither interrupted nor proximally dentate, being edged with short 

 black lunules and standing somewhat farther away from the margin. In North China and Manchuria. — 

 myrmecias Christ. (80 a) is a form from Turkestan with the macular band pale yellow instead of reddish munnecias. 

 yellow. In ^lay, found on flowers of Centaurea. 



L. kogistana Gr.-Grsh. A very small butterfly, in size and shape recalling a Zizera; perhaps only a kogistawi. 

 dwarfed form of another species. So far only found in the Pamirs (Darwaz). Both sexes above uniformly 

 dark brown; the underside with prominent ocelli and a very dull yellowish submarginal band, which 

 contrasts but little: the discal row of ocelli is very evenly curved; there is no pale streak from the dis- 

 cocellular spot of the hindwing towards the outer margin. 



L. eumedon Esp. (= chiron Bott.) (80 a). Above dark brown with white fringes and dark dis- enmedon. 

 cocellular spot to the forewing; the $ has small red anal submarginal spots on the hindwing, sometimes 

 also on the forewing. Beneath brown, with red-yellow distal band, which is either continuous, or separated 

 into spots, and either restricted to the hindwing or continued on to the forewing, or may be entirely 



') This form came from the coast of Durham. The name .mlinacis was first introduced by Stephens for 

 a form in which the discocellular spot of the forewing was said to be black in the o<5 and white in the $V. 

 Such a form does not exist, and Hahhisox ajiplied the name to the aberration described above. 



I 39 



