adscma statices!. 39i 



and the Swiss Alpine regions. Speyer's record from Granada, he 

 asserts, rests on an incorrect determination. He considers the speci- 

 mens from Asia Minor, central and southern Italy, as not typical. 

 We are in great doubt as to the varietal or specific value of the 

 following aberrations, three of which are accepted by Staudinger as 

 varieties of, and one as typical, A. statices. An examination of the 

 specimens of heydenreichii and crassicomis in the British Museum 

 (amongst which are some of Zeller's and Lederer's original specimens), 

 leads us, from the antennal characters, to believe that they are possibly 

 specifically distinct from A. statices, but probably not specifically 

 distinct from each other, the heydenreichii being '-blue-green," the 

 crassicomis " golden-green," thus agreeing with the colour definition 

 of the two forms. We would again point out that the " blue-green " 

 form of A. statices is the Linnean type. This form, as already 

 mentioned, is rare in the British Islands, but would appear to be the 

 prevalent colour of local races in the east and south of Europe. 



a. var. micans, Freyer. — Of the size of A. globulariae, but the wings are nar- 

 rower, not so delicate, nor so truncate. The head, thorax and abdomen are steel- 

 blue, whilst they are green-brown in;*, globulariae and A. statices. The abdomen 

 is much stouter than in the first-named, and more densely scaled. On the under- 

 side, the wings are black-grey with steel-blue iridescence, the colour in A. statices 

 and A. globulariae tending to be grass- or brown-green. On comparison, the difference 

 appears very striking. Taken in the Bavarian Alps, where it was flying in grassy 

 meadows, and supposed at first to be statices, but more accurate comparison 

 showed it to be neither statices nor globulariae (Neuere Beitrrige, etc., i., p. 27, 

 pi. xiv., fig.'l). Prout notes that " Freyer's figure bears out the points that the 

 author mentions." Staudinger treats {Cat., p. 44) it as typical statices, whilst 

 Lederer considers micans =. mannii, which it would therefore antedate. Herrich- 

 Schaffer notes var. micans from " Turkey." Milliere notes (Cat. L6p. Alp. -Mar., 

 p. 124) mannii as being " rare in the Basses- Alpes in May, the larva in April, on 

 Cistus salvifolius, of which it eats the leaves without touching the flowers," this 

 probably is an error. Speyer notes it from Italy, the southern Tyrol, Botzen, 

 Buda, Sandwald and Aspromonte. 



j8. var. mannii, Led. — Of the size and robustness of A. statices; antennae much 

 as in that species, but somewhat shorter. The fore-wings rather more rounded at 

 the tip and anal angle ; the margin more sinuated, the colour an intense blue- 

 green. The hind-wings black-grey, and of a somewhat more metallic green than 

 in A. statices, not paler towards the base ; the fringes not darker. The underside 

 black-grey. Mann brought this form in quantity from Spalata, and they were all 

 precisely similar in shape and colour (Ver. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 1852, p. 103). 

 Staudinger says (Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross., vii., p. 101) that this is decidedly a form 

 of A. statices, since the two run into each other completely. He records it as 

 being common at Karpinisi in the latter half of June, and states that some of the 

 small Grecian specimens are not distinguishable from German A. statices. 

 Staudinger gives (Cat., p. 44) the distribution as : Carniola, Dalmatia, Greece, 

 Central Spain. Curd records mannii from the mountain regions of Lombardy, 

 Tyrol, etc., also from Sicily. Reutti notes May 28th, 1882, nr. Dinglangen* in 

 Nassau, etc. 



y. var. heydenreichii, Led. — This comes from the neighbourhood of Mehadia, 

 and bears much resemblance to mannii, but is rather larger and much stouter, the 

 antennae are thicker and longer, but otherwise similarly formed ; the dark blue- 

 green fore-wings are shorter and broader, the costa and inner margin of almost 

 equal length, the hind margin very convex, the hind-wings and underside as in 

 mannii. This insect varies in colour to the most beautiful shiny golden-green, 

 which specimens Dr. Frivaldsky sent as micans, Fit., although I do not look upon 

 it as the latter, for Freyer found his species on the Bavarian Alps, but Frivaldsky's 

 specimens came from Italy, and the East ; besides, Freyer's figure does not agree 

 in other details. This figure is too badly drawn to pronounce a positive opinion, 

 but I am inclined to suspect that it is an ordinary statices (Ver. zool.-bot. Gesel. 

 Wien, 1852, p. 103). Staudinger, in the Stett. Ent. Zeit., xxiii., p. 358, after noting 

 that the south Tyrolean specimens referred to heydi nreichii were taken with typical 

 A. statices, notes that true heydenreichii is always " stouter than statices, its 



