320 



LYCAENA. Bij Dr. Seitz. 



the larva prohably hibernates. The butterflies occur singly but are mostly common, being found on 

 clearings in timber-woods and on wide roads, where they flutter along usually 1 to 2 m above the 

 ground, with a slow, straight, flapping flight. They appear in the South in the spring and again from 

 July onwards, in the North only once, at the end of May and in June. 



mdanops. L. iTielanops Bdv. (= saportae Hb7i.) (82 h). Above similar to the smallest varieties of cyllarus, 



but the ocelli of the forewing beneath are enlarged, usually much more than in our figure; the row, 

 moreover, is strongly curved and the ocelli gradually increase in size from the first to the fifth, the sixth 

 elongata. ocellus, if present, being smaller again. In South- West Europe, ab. elongata Courv. (= marchandii GerJi.) 

 ma rchandii. has elongate ocelli; ab. marchandii Bdv. is beneath without ocelli. — In North Africa there occurs a con- 

 siderably larger form with broader black margin to the forewing and somewhat darker underside; this 

 alffirica. is algirica Ruhl-Heyne. — Larva pale green, with thin dark markings; a brownish dorsal stripe and a 

 white side-line, between which a dark green pencilling; head black. Until June on Dorycuium. Pupa pale 

 Inown, with black dots on the sides. In spring, usually frequent wherever it occurs. 



aslraea. L. astraea Frr. (82 h). Similar to nielanops, the underside of the forewing bearing also here a row 



of large ocelli ; this row, however, has another direction, running from the costal margin obliquely and almost 

 straight to the centre of the distal margin, separating the apical area from the rest of the wing. — Asia 

 Minor and Kurdistan. 



argali. 



charybdis. 



exxda. 

 alcon. 



nigra. 



cecinae. 



pallidior. 



marginc- 



pimdala. 



rebeli. 

 monticola. 



coeligena. 



euphemus. 



■ paida. 



obsoleta. 



striata. 



obscurata. 



euphemia. 



L. argali Ehc. This species is said to be alHed to melanops, but to have the upperside pale silver- 

 grey. — Elwes discovered this insect in the Altai, and considers it possible that argali is identical with 

 one of the North American forms of this group {Nomiades Hbn.), perhaps with lygdamas or cowpcri. 



L. charybdis Stgr. (82 h). Beneath almost entirely as in ajllarus, but without the verdigris scaling 

 on the hind wing, which shows only slight traces of blue dusting at the base. The upperside of the cj 

 much more delicate violet-blue than in cyllarus, the $ on the contrary quite dark. Specimens without ocelli 

 on the hindwing beneath are ab. exuta Sciiultz. — Turkestan, found in April. 



L. alcon Schiff. (= areas Esp., euphemus Godt') (8S a). Large, the (J above deep blue, but without 

 brillant gloss. The $ black-brown, dusted with dark blue in the basal area. The dark violet-grey underside 

 has numerous ocelli. L. alcor is easily distingiushed from the following species by the ^ bearing on the 

 blue disc of the forewing no other black spots but the discocellular lunule. Central Europe and North 

 Asia, from the coast of the North Sea (Hamburg, Bremen, Belgium) to the Mediterranean, and from 

 France to the Altai, Dauria and Tibet, ab. nigra Wheel, has the (^(J strongly darkened, the ?$ being 

 quite black above. In ab. cecinae Hormuz. the ocelli of the underside are absent or strongly reduced. 

 In ab. pallidior Schultz the margin is grey instead of black. — marginepunctata Gillvi. has a row of black 

 dots before the margin, almost parallel with it; found by Hafner at Loitsch and other places in Carniolia. 

 — In the form rebeli Hirschhe the blue of the upperside is more brilliant and more extended, the dark 

 margin being reduced, in the $ only the apical qrea black; St_yria. — monticola Stgr. (83 a) has a narrow 

 black margin like rebeli, but the blue is very deep and dark, so dull as in true alcon; from the Alps 

 of Switzerland and the Caucasus. — Egg white, finely reticulated, laid on the flowers of the food-plant 

 ((jentiana i)noumonantlie). The larva generally does not break through the shell on the upperside, so that 

 the holes of empty eggs are not easily noticed. At first grey, later on reddish brown with dark dorsal line and 

 dark head. The butterflies occur on damp meadows where Gentiana grows; they are plentiful in such 

 places,|_sometimes even in abundance, from the end of May into July, in the North not before the end 

 of June. 



L. coeligena Oberth. As large as iolas, above quite uniformly light violet-blue, the apex edged 



with black. OcelU beneath as in cyllarus, the forewing bearing 4 large black ocelli, the hindwing smaller 



distal and basal ocelli. In the somewhat larger 2 the whole apical angle of the forewing and the costal 



area of the hindwing are black. — In West China, rare, more frequent in Central China (Ichang) in 

 May and June. 



L. euphemus Hbn. (= diomedes Rott.) (83 a), o above almost entirely blue, but not shining; the 

 margins, the discocellular spot of the forewing and commonly some small spots on the disc black; $ much 

 blacker, often a httle paler on the disc, this lighter area bearing rows of black spots. Underside with 

 very numerous ocelli, which are rarely as large and conspicuous as in our figure of the underside. The 

 species is at once distinguished from the ver^- similar ario7i by the underside not bearing an ocellus in 

 the cell proximally to the discocellular spot. Throughout Europe (with the exception of England) and 

 the adjacent districts of Asia, from North Germany and Russia to Italy, and from Paris to Dauria. — 

 Near the North- Western boundary there occur especially small individuals (of the size of icarus), which 

 have but few ocelli; these are ab. paula Schultz. In ab. obsoleta Gillm. the ocelli of the hindwing are 

 entirely absent or almost, while in ab. striata Gillm. they are modified into streaks. — - obscurata Stgr. 

 (83 b) is a strongly darkened form from Central Asia (also already in the Ural) ■ — euphemia Stgr. (83 b) 



