LYC3:NA. 85 



exception of a few blue scales at base, entirely brown. Beneath, both sexes are t^oloured and marked as in 

 Lvgdamns. Fringes white, both above and below. Common in California. 



*tAMicA, Kdwards, Proc. Ent. Soe., Phil., Vol. II, p. 80, (1863); Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. .'56, (1872). 

 Cupiflo Arnica, Kirby, Cat. Diurnal Le|)., p. 376, (1871). 

 .\s I have no acquaintance with this Arctic species, which Mr. \V. H. Kdwards described from the male 

 finlv, I here append his oriijinal description : ■"- 



" Male. Kxpaiuls 1 1-1(1 iiiuli. r|i]ifr- side silvei-y-liliie, brownish Mlons; tlie niiirfjins, will) a narrow, straight disoal mark on pri- 

 inaries; fringf while. fntU'r side glossv ^reyisli wliite; primaries have a narrow disoal mark and a curved row of sl.x minute black 

 spots across tile disk ; secondaries have a nearly straight row oC live minnte black spots, besides two on the costa. one of which is in the 

 middle, the other near the base, all edged witii white ; iherc is also a sub-marginal row of points and small brown lunules, sometimes 

 obsolete. PVoni Mackenzie's River, by Mrs. Ross." 



*tMARUui-A, Reakirt, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc, Phila., p. 245, (1866). Eihrar<h, Syii. .\. .Vm. P.ult., p. 36, (1872). 

 Cupiflo Maricopn, Kirhy, Cat. Diuriitil Lep., p. 377, (1871). 

 I do not know this species; when Mr. Kcakirt's types came into my possession, tliis was not among tiiem, 

 nor have I, to niy knowledge, ever seen it. His description reads thus: 



'■ .Male. I'pper side brciwn, glossed with violet blue; a narrow terminal dark line along the outer margins ; a black discal l>ar on 

 the primaries, sometimes wanting, and some obsolete roujided spots on the hind margin of the secondaries. Fringe ash-coloured. Under- 

 neath ash-brown, darkest towards the base. Primaries: a large black discal bar, a sub-central, transverse, simiated row of seven large 

 rounded black spots all narrowly ringed with white; following these, and parallel with the margin, another series of seven indistinct 

 spots. Secondaries: a discal bar and two spots, one within the cell, the other above it ; three transverse maculate bands; the tirst com- 

 posed of eight large rounded black spots, and bent twice at right angles, the second of smaller, and siigittiform, and in common with the 

 third, which is almost marginal, and verv indistinct, runs parallel with the border; all these markings are encircled with white, and the 

 seventh spot of the Brst and second rows are sometimes conHuent. Expanse 1.25-1.35 inches. Body black above, with some blneish 

 hairs: beneath grevish ; antenna' black with white aimidations, lower part of club whitish. Hab. — ('alifornia." 



*tMERTiLA, Edwards, Proc. Ent. Soc, Phila., Vol. VI, p. 206, (1866); Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 36, (1872). 

 Cupido Mertila, Kirhi/, Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 377, (1871). 

 It is almost with despair that I turn from one description to the other, always the same monotonous thing, 

 the same stereotyped greyish under side, the same teilious "sinuous rows of spots," and the same everhisting 

 this shape or that sha|)ed discal bar, spot or mark. Oh ! that we could but throw out every description that is 

 unaccompanied by a figure, how our labours would be lightened, how we would be spared the maledictions of 

 after generations for all time to come. With what boundless veneration do we look on the tomes of Cramer, 

 Seba,'l)rury, Hubner, Hewitson, and Herrich-.Schaeffer, no winding into counties.? useless descriptions in all 

 sorts of scattered periodicals, but a great massive work — grand, compact, solid, every description accompanied 

 by coloured figures. I never open these mighty volumes but I feel my soul expand in Ilallelnjahs to the 

 Almighty that through his great goodness such intellects were allowed to sojourn here and to bequeath to us 

 the result of their vast labours. 



These thoughts were suggested by reading the description of the above cited species " Mertila " founded 

 on a female example, and will apply to a host of other Lyctenidse equally as well as to this probably mythical 

 one — and although I have not a particle of taitli in half the species of this author, I now copy his de.scriptioti 

 of Mertila and hope my friends and enemies will forgive me for inflicting it on them, and my God for wasting 

 the time in so doing. 



"Female. Expands I 1-10 inch. Primaries long and narrow ; both wings brown, with sLite-coloured hairs at base and along inner 

 margin of primaries. Under side clear cineraceous; bluish at base; primaries have a single transverse sinuous row of round black spots, 

 each circled with white, as also is the lunule in the arc; from the arc a whitish ray runs towards base. Secondaries have a row of eight 

 small black spot,s in points, each circled with white; of these, two are on central margin, four nearly parallel with the hind margin ; the 

 peventh below the others and geminate; the eighth minute, nearly concealed in the marginal hairs; between the 2nd and 3rd and the 6th 

 and 7th the spaces are wide ; on the arc a streak, and midway between this and the base a black point ; on the costa above this one slightly 

 larger, all circled with white. From California. The male of this distinct *) species I have not seen." 



*t<>RCUS, Edwards, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., p. 376, (1869); Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 37, (1872). 

 Cupida Orcus, Kirby, Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 377, (1871). 

 Described from a single male specimen from California. 



"Male. Expands 1.1 inch. Upper side pruinose blue, paler on costa of primaries; hind margins broadly fuscous; fringes long, 

 cinereous. Under side grey cinereous, bluish at base; on arc of primaries a narrow black bar bent outwards, and faintly edged without 

 by white; on secondaries a faint discal streak ; both wings have a sub-marginal line of points, scarcely discernable. Beneath thorax 

 covered with blue, grey-hairs, .abdomen grey ; palpi white above at base, black at tip, and cinereous below ; antennie black annulated with 

 white; club black, tipped with cinereous." 



Pheres, Boisduval, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., p. 297, (1852). Edioards, Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 36, (1872). 



Polyommatus FhereK, Morris, Cat. Lep. N. Am., p. 12, (I860); Syn. Lep. N. Am., p. 89, (1862). 

 Cupido Pheres, Kirby, Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 362, (1871). 



* I These italics are mine. 



