revision of the genus Argynnis. 561 



Scudder has well shown in his ' Butterflies of New 

 England,' t. 44, fig. 4, to the presence of dark scales of 

 unusual size, which conceal the so-called androconia 

 (" federbuscbschuppen," apud Aurivillius), whichare long 

 scales fringed at the end in the four species figured by 

 Scudder on Plate 46. As these scales are not removed 

 from the wing by Mr. Waterhouse's process of desquama- 

 tion, I was lead to the belief that an actual thickening of 

 the vein took place ; but Mr. Weir has shown me entirely 

 desquamated wings of A. atlantis, paphia, and adippe, 

 which prove the correctness of his view. There is an 

 admirable account of the formation and clothing of these 

 veins, with figures of the scales and veins, in a paper by 

 Herr C. Aurivillius, " liber Sekundiire Geschlectscharak- 

 tare Nordischer Tagfalter," published in the 'Bihangtill 

 k. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handlingar,' Band 5, No. 25, 

 Stockholm, 1880, P. A. Nordstedt and Sons, to which 

 I must refer those who wish to study the question 

 farther. 



A. laodice is rather an eastern than a European 

 species, but occurs throughout Russia from Sarepta and 

 Odessa to about 60° N., and also in Eastern Germany, 

 where in some seasons it is not very rare. In China 

 and Japan, however, it is more abundant, and varies 

 considerably in size and the tint of the under side. In 

 this species the first median, and also the submedian, 

 vein appear dilated in the males for about one-third of 

 their length in both European and Asiatic specimens alike. 

 The four specimens I have from Ta-tsien-lo, in East 

 Tibet, which I owe to M. Oberthiir's kindness, show in 

 the rather broader and better marked transverse bar on 

 the hind wing below, an approach to the next species, 

 which their geographical position would lead one to expect, 

 as it is evident that A. rudra, which is only a fixed local 

 race of laodice, must have come to the Khasias through 

 the hill-region of Upper Burmah, and the unknown 

 country east of Assam, and not through the Himalaya, 

 where it is unknown. Its existence here, surrounded by 

 tropical plains on all sides but one, is somewhat re- 

 markable. It is, however, in all the specimens I have 

 seen and taken myself, easily recognised by the unvarying 

 breadth of this band, as well as by the much greener 

 colour of the hind wings below, to which also the 

 Tibetan specimens show a tendency. The clothing of 



