[57] NEW SPECIES OF CALIFORNIAN BUTTERFLIES. 169 



VIII. DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES OF CALIKORNIAN 



BUTTERFLIES. 





Lycaena Lotis n. sp. 



Male. Wings glossy violet-blue ; margins bordered with 

 black, extending narrowly on the costa to near the base the 

 black of the costa edged outwardly with white ; veins defined 

 by black scales ; fringes white with black basilar scales. Palpi 

 black above, white laterally. Thorax and abdomen black with 

 long whitish hairs. 



Beneath : wings gray. Primaries : the discal, extradiscal* 

 and submarginal black spots, in appearance and position 

 much as in Scudderii / the two rows of the submarginal series 

 are more contiguous than in that species, nearly equally well 

 defined, and without space between them for the fuscous spots 

 usually present (at least in the median portion of the range) 

 in the $ Scudderii, and always in the ? . Secondaries : three 

 white -annulated, black extrabasilar spots ; the extradiscal 

 doubly-curved series of similar spots, nearly as in Scudderii ; 

 the black spots of the submarginal series are nearly covered 

 with metallic scales giving a green reflection (blue in Scud- 

 derii), anterior to which and resting thereon, a connected (on 

 the veins) series of fulvous crescents, tending to a sagittate 



*Reference in this description, to the shape of the spots in this series, is purposely 

 omitted, for the reason that, in this group they are subject to so great variation 

 that it is impossible to draw from them any reliable specific characters at least 

 from the inspection of a few individuals. In the twenty-eight examples of 

 Scudderii before me, the following variations are noticeable : In one, all the 

 spots are round (or nearly so) except the last interior one, which is geminate on 

 the submedian fold : in another, not a single spot is round or even approximating 

 that form : in one, the fifth spot, which, in the original description of the species 

 is said to be " twice as long as the others," is in this, the shortest of all. In four 

 examples, the second and third spots are prolonged inwardly toward the discal 

 spot in a tail-like projection, while in others they are regularly rounded, and again 

 in others, quite extended toward the outer margin. In one example, the first five 

 spots are distinctly semi-oval in form ; in others, the spots assume ovate, ellipti- 

 cal, triangular, crescentic and irregular forms. In five examples, there is an 

 additional smaller spot between veins 8 and 9, preceding the one commonly called 

 the first spot. A difference is frequently to be seen between the corresponding 

 spots of the opposite wings 



