884 MR. H. J. ELWES ON THE BUTTERFLIES [NoV. 15, 



have no male for it or female for T. smaragdina, M. Oberthiir having 

 made a mistake when he said that he had males of T. taxila. 



The species is common in the littoral region of Amurland, and as 

 far up the river as Raddefskaia. I think it also occurs in Yesso ; 

 but the specimens from thence are smaller, and do not perfectly 

 agree with those from the mainland. 



T. smaragdina is easily distinguished in the male sex by the short 

 bar across the underside of fore wing ; but this bar does not seem 

 to be constantly present in the female, which, however, may be 

 known by the colour of the underside. 



Thecla japonica, Murray, Ent. Mo. Mag. xi. p. 169 (1874). 

 ? Dipsas taxila, Hew. 111. Diurn. Lep., Supp. p. 10, t. vi. figs. 16, 



17. 



Var. a. $ . T.fasciata, Jans. Cist. Ent. ii. p. 272, t. v. fig. 4 (1878). 

 T. smaragdoides, Staudinger in litt. 



T. tamla, Oberthiir, Et. Ent. v. p. 18; ? Bremer, t. viii. fig. 2. 

 Ab b. aurorina, Oberthiir, loc. cit. {Jlavo-maculata), 



This species is easily distinguished from T. smaragdina by the 

 darker colour of the underside. The variation of the female has 

 given rise to much confusion in the nomenclature of this insect ; but 

 I believe the synonymy aljove is correct. The females appear to be 

 dimorphic, as, until it can be shown that there is a male different 

 from T. japonica which can be assigned with certainty to T.fas- 

 ciata, I fail to see the propriety of separating that form, which 

 corresponds very fairly with similar female aberrations in Amurland. 



^I. Oberthiir has females from Askold which, he says, are a 

 perfect transition between the types of T. aurorina and T.fasciata. 



There is also a form, of which Dr. Staudinger has three males and 

 one female from Vladivostock and Askold, which comes very near 

 T, japonica from Amurland, but which is perhaps only a variety or 

 hybrid between it and T, orientalis, both of which occur in the same 

 localities. 



Lastly, we have a form separated by Dr. Staudinger as 



T. SAPHiRiNA, Stdgr. MSS., 



which differs from any of the others in the colour and markings of 

 the underside, in which it is nearest to T. attilia. Of this only one 

 male and two females are known, from the coast-region of Amur- 

 land. 



T. ORIENTALIS, Murray, Ent. Mo. Mag. ser. 4, x. p. 169 (1875). 



1 T. diamantina, Oberthiir, Et. Ent. v. p. 18, t. i. fig. 1 (1880). 



This species, which is easily distinguished by its larger size and 

 paler colour, occurs not uncommonly in both Japan and the coast- 

 region of Amurland. Specimens from Askold agree perfectly with 

 Japanese examples. 



T. diamantina is considered by Dr. Staudinger a synonym of 

 this species ; but the figure of it agrees, I think, more closely with 

 the true T. smaragdina, which I have from Amurland. 



