PLEBEIUS ARGUS. 187 



narrower, blue above, with a broad black margin to all the wings ; the underside 

 of ihe d" of a deep greyish, or drab, colour ; the ocelli very distinct, as in the 2 , 

 and the oblique series on the posterior wings consisting of four (Stephens, Illus. 

 Haust., i-. p 94). 



j8. ab. obscura, Grand, "Int. Ent. Zeits-," ii., p. 71 (1908).— <? . The entire 

 wings on the upperside blackened to such an extent that only when looked at side- 

 ways is a slight blue shimmer perceptible. The underside is normal, but for the 

 slightly darkened colouring (Grand). 



7 ." ab. 6eZZa,H.-Sch., " Sys. licaib.," i.,p. 127, pi. xlix,suppl. figs. 227, 228, $ 

 (1842); [Gerh., " Mon. Schmett.," p. 21, pi. xxxvii., figs. \a-b (18531;] Staud., 

 "Cat," lsted., p. 4(1861); 2nd ed., p. 10 (1871) ; Lampa, " Ent. Tids.," vi , p. 13 

 (1885 ; Ruhl, "Pal. Gross-Schmett.," i.. pp. 232, 751 (1892-5); Boater, " Act Soc 

 Faun. Flor. Fenn.," ix., no. 6, p. 13 (1893); [Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 183 (1890);] 

 [Staud., " Cat., 3rd ed., p. 78, in -part (1901);] Lanib., " Pap. Belg.," p. 224 (1902).— 

 Nearest to aegon, with the same formation of the front legs, and the same shape, 

 not larger than the smallest examples of it.* A shining violet-blue, the border of the 

 forewing broadly black, that of the hindwing with black oval spots, those in cells 

 lc and 2 bounded towards the base Avith orange. The fringes black on the 

 nervures of the lower half. Lighter, and more reddish-grey beneath, the marginal 

 line indistinct, dark at the nervures only; all the marginal spots of the hindwing, 

 from cell 16 to 7, large and silver-blue throughout, those of the forewing sharp and 

 three-cornered, the following row of hatchet-shaped spots fine and sharp, the row 

 of eye-spots conspicuously nearer together, and much less curved ; the base of the 

 hindwing greenish-silver. Herr Bischoff obtained a 6 from the neighbourhood of 

 Broussa. Its right to the position of a separate species still needs confirmation 

 (Herrich-Schaffer) . 



The special characteristics of this form are : — The orange lunules 

 above the last two black spots of the marginal row on the upperside 

 of the hindwing ; the larger size of the marginal spots on the under- 

 side of the same wing, in conjunction with the diminution of the 

 orange band and the inner row of ocellated spots ; and the greyer 

 ground colour of the underside, which, however, is hardly lighter than 

 in many European specimens. [The illustration in Gerhard, though 

 evidently not taken from the same specimen, has the same character- 

 istics. There is no comment on ths form in the text of the latter, 

 beyond the word " Tiirkei," and a reference to Herrich-SchafTer.] 

 Both illustrations show it to be a form of aegon, though Herrich- 

 Schaffer gives it with hesitation as a separate species, grouped with 

 aegon, and separated, on account of the front tibiae, from argus 

 {argyrognomon) . Lampa's description is little more than a condensed 

 form of the original: "Smaller, hindwings above with round black- 

 spots near the hind-margin, the two hindmost of which have, on the 

 inside, rounded borders of reddish-yellow ; lighter on the underside, 

 with greenish bases. South and central (?) Sweden, Norrbotten, 

 Norway, south and central Finland, Denmark." 



5. ab. rufolunulata,n. ab. Bella, Gerh., "Mon. Schmett.," pi. xxxvii., fig. la, b 

 (1853) —The example figured in Ball. Soc. Up. Gen., pi. x , fig. 1, was taken, July Si h, 

 1907, at Schallberg (Simplom, in the locality in which lyeidas is found in abundance. 

 It is characterised by the presence of tawny lunules, surmounting the black marginal 

 spots ; these lunules are four in number, but the first (at the anal angle) and the 

 fourth are merely indicated by some scales, whilst the two others are very distinct, 

 and their crescent form with the concavity bi hind, well marked. On examining 

 carefully the argus [aegon) of my collection, f found indications of these lunules in 

 two other specimens, a £ from Alpienalp (Simplom, July 12th, 1907, and ihe second 

 from Banda, July 15th, 1895, these traces of lunules occupy the same position as in 

 the example from Berisal, the fulvous scales are less numerous, but evident, 



* It is, according to the illustration, about the same size as an average English 

 specimen, and by no means so small as the alpine form (Wheeler). 



