242 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



peculiar to the Polar and high Alpine regions of the Northern 

 Hemisphere, though one or two are Steppe insects. 



GENUS ARGYROPHORUS. 

 Argyrophorus, Blanch, in Gay, Hist.Chilena, vii., p. 30 (1852). 



THE SILVER BUTTERFLY. ARGYROPHORUS ARGENTEUS. 



Argyrophorus argenteus, Blanch., op. cit.> p. 30, pi. 2, figs. 911 

 (1852). 



(Plate XXXV., Fig. 2.) 



It is hardly necessary to give any generic characters for this 

 genus, the type of which is one of the most remarkable Butter- 

 flies known, being entirely of a silvery lustre above, resembling 

 silver-paper. Towards the tip of the fore-wings is a brownish 

 spot, not ocellated. The under surface of the fore-wings is 

 similar, but is marked with reddish-tawny towards the base ; 

 the hind-wings are greyish-brown, with a row of imperfectly 

 ocellated brown spots. It measures about two inches across 

 the wings, and is found in the mountains of Chili. It is not a 

 very common species in collections, owing to its habitat being 

 little visited by entomologists. 



VI. PRONOPHILA GROUP. 



These are large, or more rarely, moderate-sized Butterflies, 

 almost entirely confined to the mountainous regions of Tropical 

 America, where they take the place of our Erebia. They are 

 generally of a black or brown colour, sometimes suffused with 

 red, and often spotted or banded with white, pale yellow, and 

 red. The fore-wings are broad, hardly longer than the hind- 

 wings, with the hind-margin nearly straight, being only slightly 

 curved, and rarely oblique. The hind-wings are generally 

 dentated, sometimes very strongly, and the under surface is 

 more often obscurely marbled than distinctly banded or 



