PLEBEIUS ARGUS. 199 



that surrounds these wings also ; the fringes show very white in contrast with the 

 black margin ; the underside, however, is not of the white ground colour of 

 hypochiona, but is grey, with a good deal of blue towards the base of the wings ; 

 the orange, too, is less brilliant, and often less in quantity. The ? s are dark 

 fuscous, with the orange lunules usually confined to three or four on hindwings, 

 and the fringes grey except at the apices oE forewings, which are white, whilst the 

 underside is brown in tint, the orange well-marked, and there is a well-defined white 

 subterminal band between the orange band and the submedian row ol spots on the 

 hindwings. 



This gives one the idea of a highly-developed " heath " race, both 

 in the ground colour of the underside, the intense markings of the 

 upperside $ , and the dark colour of the Js; in one of the latter 

 there is no orange ( = ab. fuscus), and in another the orange lunules in 

 all the wings are well-marked ( = ab. croceo-lnnulatus). 



£. ab. hypochionoides, n. ab. — This form occurs as an aberration among the 

 var. pyrenaica, at Gavarnie. It is of a more lilac tint than the latter, has a 

 narrower (but still well-developed) black margin to the forewings, is less suffused 

 along the nervures, whilst marginal spots, as in hypochiona , replace the marginal band 

 in the hindwings of pyrenaica ; the fringes are white ; the ground-colour of the 

 undersides approaches, without attaining, the whiteness of hypochiona, and is not 

 grey as in pyrenaica. It is of the size oipyrenaica, and smaller than well-developed 

 specimens of hypochiona. 



This is of the size, and very similar in general appearance to 

 hypochiona- mino?', but is wanting in the shiny white colour of the 

 underside of the latter. The Vigo examples are very close to this race. 

 It would appear to be the form Oberthiir describes as occurring at 

 Vernet-les-Bains. 



o. var. sifanica, Grum-Grsh., "Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross.," xxv., p. 450(1891); 

 Staud., " Cat.," 3rd ed., p. 78 (1901). — Lycaena argus var. sifanica. Varietas 

 major, obscurior, limbo externo latissimo, puncto centrali distinctissimo. In 

 montibus Dshachar detecta (Grum-Grshimailo). 



Two of Grum-Grshimailo's original specimens (with special labels) 

 are in the Brit. Mus. coll., labelled " Su-tcheou, Kansu. Gr.-Gr. 

 27. viii. 90." There is no doubt about these types being argus (aegon), 

 but placed with them, by Elwes, is an example of argyrognomon 

 labelled, " var. aegidion, Gr.-Gr., Amdo. Elwes coll.," so that this was 

 possibly the origin of Elwes' idea, quoted by Staudinger " Cat.," 3rd 

 ed., p. 78, that sifanica was, perhaps, argyrognomon, and probably also 

 the cause of Staudinger's erroneously placing it as a var. of argyrognomon. 



7T. var. (et ab.) ongodai, n. var. Aegon, Elwes, "Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond.,''p. 323 

 (1899. — Oflargesize, <? , ? , 31mm.-33mm.; <3 deep violet- ratherthan purplish-blue; 

 oirter marginal border strongly developed, nervures dark, fringes white ; the dis- 

 coidal lunules of all four wings exceptionally well-defined. ? deep fuscous-brown, 

 the hindwings with well-marked orange marginal lunules, the forewings with faintly- 

 marked hmules. In the Brit. Mus. coll., two J s and ?s from " Ongodai, Altai 

 Mts., 3000ft. -5000ft., June 18th-July 1st, 1898 (Jacobson);" one S and two ? s r 

 " Ongodai, Altai Mts., 1898 (Berezowskv);" one J, "south-east Altai, Bashkaus, 

 3000ft.-4000ft., July 30th, 1898 (Elwes);" one <? (labelled aegon) "Samarkand, ex 

 Standinger (Godman-Salvin coll.)." 



All the Ongodai examples are of this form, and the one Samarkand 

 specimen. At Bashkaus, it apparently occurs as an aberration with a 

 form very like examples in the British Museum coll., from Trafoi, 

 Preth, etc. The ongodai $ s are brighter and more violet-blue than 

 the types of sifanica, which are more purple, and hence distinctly 

 darker. Elwes writes (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1899, p. 325): 



