180 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



occasionally met without traces of the metallic kernels to the marginal 

 spots of the underside of the hindwings = ab. leodorus, Gerhard. This 

 failure is much more frequent in the S s than in the 2 s ; indeed, in 

 some races, e.g., bejarensis, in Spain, and coreana, in Korea, the $ s are 

 specially noted in the original descriptions as largely failing in this 

 particular, whilst, in the Japanese races, they often entirely fail in the 

 $ s, although present in the 2 s. Rehfous observes (in litt.) that, in 

 the Cote d'Or, the development of these spots is very irregular, 

 examples occasionally having none, but sometimes the number reaches 

 six, the $ s being more often richly endowed than the $ s in this 

 respect ; whilst the mountain examples usually have fewer than the 

 typical form. Two or three metallic kernels are the more usual 

 numbers, four not infrequent, but five or six rare = ab. artjyrotoxus, 

 Bergs. Rothke notes that specimens of the leodorus, Gerh., form are 

 occasionally found in the Krefeld district, and the absence of metallic 

 spots is one of the characters specially noted in the original description 

 of aegidion, Meissner. Hormuzaki also observes that, in many 

 examples found in the Czernowitz district, the black marginal spots 

 on the underside of the hindwings do not show a trace of the metallic 

 blue centres. Similarly, the specimens from Bilbao are noted as being 

 almost without metallic spots on the underside. Morrison notes [Ent. 

 Wk. bit., vii., p. 165) that one of the few rare Scottish examples 

 known, taken about three miles north of the Pass of Killiecrankie, in 

 1858, had the metallic spots on the underside larger and more lustrous 

 than in more southern specimens. Gillmer says that, in Anhalt, there 

 are usually two or three metallic spots, sometimes, however, only one, 

 and occasionally as many as four ; specimens without any silver spots 

 have not been observed in Anhalt. The £ varies quite as much as 

 the $ . The fuscous ground colour may be quite of a pale brownish 

 hue, or it may be dark, inclining to black. The black marginal spots 

 may be almost lost in the ground colour, or they may be clearly 

 defined with internal marginal lunules of orange or yellow, and an 

 external edging of white. The normally orange portion may be 

 entirely absent or merely indicated in pale grey, or may be well- 

 developed as separate lunules of a yellow or bright orange, or the latter 

 may be united into a continuous band on the hindwings, or on all the 

 wings. The bases of the hindwings alone, or of all the wings, may be 

 tinged with light blue or violet scales, or these may spread over the 

 discal area and cover the greater part of the wing, in the most extreme 

 forms reaching the outer marginal spots, and forming an exactly 

 parallel variation to that seen in Agriades <<>ri<I<>n (ab. si/ngrapha), 

 A. thetis (bellargus) (ab. co-onus), and Polyommatus icarus (ab. clara), 

 whilst, as in the latter, pale, cuneiform marks may rest as it were on 

 the marginal spots, and point towards the centre of the wing. In almost 

 all cases, the variation is more marked on the hind- than on the fore- 

 wings. The different aberrational forms in some districts become 

 racial or varietal in others, and the union of two or three or more 

 aberrational characters in the same individual makes them difficult to 

 describe. The following is an attempt to deal with some of the 

 complications : — 



L.— Uniformly Fuscous =ab. fu8cu8, n. ab. 



La. Fuscous, the hindwings scaled with blue - ab. poslerocaendcscens, n. ab. 



16.— Fuscous, all the wings scaled with blue ab. caerulcscens, n. ab. 



