556 Mr. H. J. Ehves on a 



A. hecatc is a species of somewhat limited range in 

 EuroiDe, but occurs in Western and Central Asia, and 

 seems to vary little. Standinger's var. caticasica is not 

 recognised in the Grand Duke Romanoff' s list of Caucasian 

 butterflies, and those specimens I have from Amasia and 

 Armenia agree perfectly with Hungarian examples ; so I 

 think this name may be dropped. 



A. laihuma. — A re-examination of my long series of 

 this species has lead me to modify the opinion I formerly 

 held that the Himalayan form was not to be distinguished 

 from the European. Unfortunately I am unable to 

 compare a series of specimens from Central Asia, where, 

 according to Alpheraky, it is rare, and I therefore 

 cannot say to which form those belong. Alpheraky 

 only says " perhaps a little paler than European speci- 

 mens." The Himalayan form, however, can be dis- 

 tinguished by the silver patches in the cell of the hind 

 wing below, being lanceolate or rather pointed towards 

 the outside, and angled towards the costa instead of 

 oblong, as in European specimens. This character 

 fails partially to distinguish about four of my forty 

 specimens. A more constant and better distinction 

 is the form of the silver patch at the abdominal angle, 

 which extends in the Himalayan examples in a band of 

 diminishing breadth, almost to the end of the lanceolate 

 patch above mentioned, where, as in the European 

 specimens, it never extends bej^ond the first median 

 nervule (vein 1, apud H.-S.). As a rule also, the Hima- 

 layan specimens are larger and rather paler in tint on 

 the upper side. The species has not yet been found 

 anywhere in Eastern Asia, China, or Japan, but is 

 common in Sikkim and the North-west Himalaya. It 

 does not seem that the name isceea, which was attri- 

 buted to Doubleday by Gray, was ever used by him in 

 print, and I think no description of it has been pub- 

 lished. De Niceville, relying on myself, uses the name 

 lathonia for the Himalaj'an variety. 



The synonymy of the Chilian species of Argynnis is 

 somewhat involved.* Butler and Eeed do not agree in 



* Berg, in the ' Annals of the Argentine Society' for 1882, gives 

 a full synonymy, whicli he says is based on an examination of the 

 typical specimens of dexamerie and latlionioides, and is, perhaps, 

 more correct than mine, which was written before I had been able 

 to get access to this paper. 



