Lepidoptera of the Altai Mountains. 337 



98. Argynnis aphirape, Hb. 



This was common in all parts of the country from about 

 5000 — 8000 feet the first week in July, flying in wet grassy 

 places above the forest. The specimens are like ossianus 

 in size, but paler than either that or the typical ajjJiirape 

 in both sexes, and agree with those sent from Irkut by 

 Leder, but they are not so pale as those sent from Nico- 

 laievsk by Graeser. On the whole, I do not see how 

 any local forms of this species can be distinguished, as 

 there is much variation among specimens from Finland, 

 North Russia, and Scandinavia, which, though usually 

 referred to var. ossianus, have no common distinctive 

 character. 



99. A. selcne, Schiff. 



Of this I only found a single specimen in the Upper 

 Tchnja Valley on July 23rd. I received another taken 

 at Ongodai by Jacobson. These might be called var. 

 hela, Stgr., if there was any constancy in that form, wdiich 

 so far as my specimens show is not the case. 



100. A. selenis, Evers. 



I took this first at Kazan on the Volga on May 21st 

 with the earliest spring butterflies. These specimens 

 were pale in colour, and are typical selenis. In 

 the Altai I found it at many places, from 3000 feet on 

 June I7th, up to 7000 feet on July 23rd, when tlie 

 species was still fresh in the Upper Tchuja Valley. It 

 frequents bushes near marshy meadows, but was never 

 plentiful, and I only got two or three females. The Altai 

 form is more like those from Amurland and Dahuria which 

 have been separated by Erschoff as var. sibirica. I have a 

 specimen so named from his collection, but I do not see how 

 they can be distinguished with certainty, as there is con- 

 siderable variation among them, though they are on the 

 whole darker and larger than those fi'om the Volga. 



101. A. oscarus, Ev. 



Tiiough I looked out carefully for this I did not succeed 

 in finding it myself, but Jacobson took two or three at 

 Ongodai, which seems to be its most westerly known range. 

 The species, though very closely allied to selenis, euphrosyne, 

 and selene, may, I think, be certainly distinguished by the 



