197 



XX. Note on the species of Glau:opsyche from 

 Eastern North America 



BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER. 

 [Bead before this Sucuty, Deccmher 26, 18T3.] 



Mr. Grote lias recently published in this Bulletin a description 

 of a species of Glaucopsyche, of which many specimens were col- 

 lected in Anticosti by Mr. Conper, and to which Mr. Grote gave 

 the name of G. Conperi. The description was based upon nine 

 specimens which, strange to say, included only one male; all, except- 

 ing one female, were more or less rubbed and their determination 

 was a matter of no small difficulty. Mr. Grote was good enough 

 to submit the specimens to my inspection before (and again since) 

 description, and it is but fair to liim to say that it was, at least in 

 part, owing to my report, that they were described as distinct from 

 Avhat has ordinarily b^en known in American collections as Lycaena 

 Pembina Edw. The single male seemed to have as broad and 

 vaguely defined a dusky border to the outer margin of the wings, as 

 the female ; while in the previously known species, the upper sur- 

 face of the wings of the male had a distinct and very narrow black 

 edging. Since its description, however, I have seen in different 

 collections thirty or forty good specimens collected by Couper at 

 the same time, and no male with markings resembling those of the 

 female occurs among them ; this throws very strong doubt upon the 

 validity of the distinction and a reexamination of the types is not 

 reassuring, for the wings of the male are rubbed so that it is impos- 

 sible to assert positively that their border was any broader or less 

 well defined than in those specimens from which it was believed to 

 be specifically distinct, although its appearance tends to the earlier 

 conclusion. On the whole, therefore, I am inclined now to consider 

 all the northern specimens of Glaucopsyche as belonging to a single 

 species. 



