68 BKITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



race, owing to its parallelism with allied species, suggests some ten- 

 dency to mimicry. The described Asiatic forms are as follows : 



a. var. decolor, Staud., " Stett. Ent. Ztg.," 1886, p. 203 (1886) ; RiiM, " Pal. 

 Gross-Schmett.," p. 229 (1895) ; Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," i., p. 186 (1896) ; Staud., 

 "' Cat.," 3rd ed., p. 77 (1901).— In 1883, I received from the neighbourhood of 

 Margelan a small number of E. argiades belonging to the smaller first brood var. 

 polysperchon. They differ essentially from the latter only in the totally different 

 tint of the blue of the S , which, in this form, var. decolor, is of a light greenish- 

 blue, whereas in argiades and polysperchon it is violet-blue. In decolor, too, the 

 black outer border is wider and more sharply defined, and the underside is grey- 

 white, without any greyish suffusion. The only ? of decolor before me is absolutely 

 without any blue suffusion on the dark upperside, but before the (damaged) outer 

 margin of the hindwings stand three or four eye-spots, finely surrounded with blue. 

 [Occasional examples of coretas from Vienna, Hungary, or Bulgaria, have a similar 

 greenish-blue coloration, and these I call ab. (or var. )decolorata. ] (Staudinger). 



/3. var. amurensis, Ruhl, "Pal. Gross-Schmett.," i., p. 751 (1895); Tutt, 

 '" Brit. Butts.," p. 186 (1896). — Large, with very uniform white-grey underside ; 

 bases of wings hardly tinged with bluish-green ; the reddish spots form a very 

 distinct band on the hindwings of both sexes ; in the ¥ this band extends to the 

 forewings, although paler ; similarly also on the underside of the hindwings. 

 Amur (Ruhl). 



This appears to be little different from the strongly-marked 

 Japanese examples generally referred to hellotia. T. B. Fletcher notes 

 that the species was " common all the summer of 1898, at Wei-hai- 

 Wei ; the specimens appearing to be referable to the var. amurensis, 

 Biihl, though the size varies greatly. This form is characterised by a 

 very uniform whitish-grey underside ; the pale red spots form a very 

 distinct band on the hindwings of both sexes. The vernal examples 

 at Wei-hai-Wei have these spots paler than those disclosed later in the 

 season." Later, he adds [Ent., xxxiv., p. 156) that " there are 

 .apparently three broods here, April, June, and September, and the forms 

 amurensis, Buhl, and hellotia, Men., occur." This also appears to 

 point to amurensis being practically synonymous with the Japanese 

 var. hellotia. 



y. var. hellotia, Men., " Cat Lep. Mus. Pet.," pi. x., fig. 6, pp. 84, 12-1 (1857); 

 Butl., "Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.," 2th ser., ix., p. 17 (1882); Ruhl, " Pal. Gross- 

 Schmett.," p. 751 (1895); Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 186 (1890). Argiades, Elwes, 

 " Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.," p. 887, in part (1881) ; Leech, " Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.," 

 p. 415 (1887) ; Pryer, " Rhop. Ninon.," p. 17, pi. iv., figs. 23a-6 (1888) ; Leech, 

 " Butts. China," etc., ii., p. 328, in part (1891). — ¥ . Lyeaena hellotia, n. sp. 

 Described from an example 14 lines in expanse. The upperside of a very dark 

 brown, with blue reflexions at the base : at the anal angle of the hindwings, a black 

 dot, surmounted by a tawny crescent. The underside shiny, slightly tinged with 

 bluish; the forewings without streaks or dots at the base, the discoidal streak 

 poorly developed, beyond which is a row of six strongly-marked black streaks, 

 "whilst near the outer edge are only traces of two or three brown streaks, edged 

 with, tawny exteriorly, and placed near the inner angle, hi the hindwings are two 

 black points nearer to the base than the disc, but there is no trace of the discoidal 

 crescent ; a transverse row of very black dots, disposed thus — CO , of which two are 

 near the outer angle, four round the disc, and three lower, near the anal angle ; 

 lastly on the outer margin, and towards the inner angle, are two black dots, each 

 surmounted by a fulvous spot, bounded above by a very narrow black streak, 

 whilst beyond these, on the outer margin, are two weaker iulvous spots. This 

 species, brought from Japan, has been given to us by Mr. Goschkevitsch 

 (Menetries). 



Though only described from a single 2 , there is no doubt that 



It has since been proved (Ent. Tiec, xx., pp. 231 ei seq.) thai coretas ( = alcetas) 

 and its ab. decolorula, are specifically distinct from argiades. 



