Mr. H. J. Elvves on Butterflies from Japan. 467 



It is no doubt very easy to get over tlie difficulty by saying 

 that what I call varieties Mr. Butler calls distinct species, and 

 in some cases, as I have heard, even distinct genera ; but I 

 affirm with coniidence that if the butterflies of EurojDC were 

 treated by Mr. Butler in the same way as the butterflies of Japan 

 have been, the number of names, I will not say species, would 

 be doubled, and perhaps trebled, supposing that he had a large- 

 enough collection to work upon and no critics *. 



If any one with a rich collection of European and North- 

 Asiatic butterflies will take the trouble to examine the genus 

 Ai-gynnis closely, and test the validity of such species as A. 

 vorajc, Butl., A. jycqyJiioides, Butl., A. rahdia^ A. ^yaUescens, 

 Butl., A. locuplesy Butl., or to examine some of his new 

 species of Japanese Pajnlio with a good series of specimens, 

 I think it will be found that they do not bear the test much 

 better than the Colice', and, considering that some of his 

 Japanese species have been described from drawings, like 

 Pararge ecJiinoides^ and others from single faded and worn 

 specimens, like C. pallens^ this is not surprising, though I 

 believe there were sufficient specimens of the Argynnes. 



It is quite possible, and even probable, that a more perfect 

 knowledge of the distribution, seasonal forms, and metamor- 

 phoses of Japanese insects may prove the distinctness of some 

 of these species ; but I think it is better to wait till there are 

 at least good reasons for describing them, than to run the 

 risk of adding more to the already long list of useless and 

 troublesome synonyms. 



I will here take the opportunity of making remarks on 

 some mw species described by Mr. Butler in Ann. & Mag. 

 Nat. Hist, Jan. 1881, p. 32. 



Argynnis gemmata^ Butl., is a very distinct and beautiful 

 species — so much so, that I was astonished to find, when I 

 compared my specimen at the British Museum last year, and 

 pointed it out to Mr. Butler, that it had been overlooked 

 for so many years. 



With regard to the localities given, viz. " Darjeeling [Lid- 

 derdale)] between Nepal and Tibet" {Charlton), I must say 

 a few words. Though more definite than the abominable 

 expression "Northern India," which was and still is so much 

 in favour among those ignorant of the physical geogra])hy of 

 the Plimalayas, or careless of the great importance of definite 



* As an instauce of what may be accomplished in this direction by a 

 painstaking and observant natm-alist, I would commend to his notice 

 Jordan's ' Diagnoses Flantarum ' (1SG4), in which fil'ty-three species are 

 described and twenty figured, most, if not all, of which are considered by 

 other botanists to be varieties of Uraba veriia. 



