78 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



nomenclature may be applied to the blue forms of lapponica ; 

 coerulescens for those in which the blue pervades no more than 

 the basal to median area ; reserving Strand's cocrulea for the 

 form in which the whole area of all the wings is submerged to 

 the borders. 



There are, of course, intermediates in the several forms 

 of the 2 type and 5 lapponica ; as I have noted my 

 Scandinavian series runs tlp-ough the whole gamut from the 

 all-brown 2 from Alten to the all-blue form also from Alten, 

 and taken on the same ground. The Soon ? is actually an 

 intermediate between can'idea, Strand, and coerulescens, mihi, 

 in which the blue extends over the area usual in (xgon var. 

 Corsica, of which species I have never seen or heard of an 

 all-brown example. One blue ? from Alten on the upper side 

 exactly reproduces the colour and size of my most brilliant 

 masseyi from Witherslack. 



Comparing the under side oi 3 3 from the higher Alps with 

 the Scandinavian lajyponica, the ground colour of the latter is 

 almost invariably darker and more ashen, while the cafe au lait 

 brown of the ? exhibits a similar tendency. 



I am aware that Mr. Wheeler (' Butterflies of Switzerland,' 

 etc., p. 43) has announced the blue-suffused ? as the type 

 form. But he did this when he accepted Staudinger's wholly 

 indefensible application of Bergstrasser's arygyrognomon to the 

 species in place of argns, L., the type ? of which (assuming 

 Linneus to have described his urgiis from argus, Auct., and not 

 from regoii, Schiffermiiller) is certainly brown : just as the 

 type ? of Gerhard's lapponica is also brown without trace of 

 blue on the upper side. By retaining argus, the name invented 

 for the all-brown ? , ab. et var. hrunnea, Spuler, falls. That 

 Mr. Wheeler followed Staudinger with extreme reluctance is 

 explained in his footnote (p. 43) ; he did so to avoid re-naming 

 the species altogether. For a decision to settle the vexed 

 question of the model of Linneus' argus we must wait the 

 judgment of the Interniitional Committee of Nomenclature. 

 Meanwhile, until the oracle has spoken, I prefer to range myself 

 as one more Anctorum who is not satisfied that the case for 

 changing the name of cBgon Schiff., lo argus, L., is proven. But 

 whatever that pronouncement may be, it is clear that if argus 

 is referred to cegon a new name will have to be discovered for 

 the species under review. 



It may be interesting to observe heie, also, that the two 

 most interesting male under side aberrations in my collection 

 are both from high mountttin localities. The mountain S form 

 of the Central Pyrenees is of a less lilac- blue — a deej) ultra- 

 marine — than the lowland tj'pe form ; the black borders are 

 (in this case) wider and broader — more like the mountain form 

 of (egon, in fact. The under side is remarkable ; the specimen 



