256 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



elevation, but this is not without exception. Those in our collpction, 

 from Saeterstoen (June-July), Gresy-sur-Aix (mid-August), Chavoire 

 (early August), St. Michel de Maurienne (early August), are distinctly 

 brighter in colour, with very narrow, black, marginal edge without 

 suffusion, whilst the brightest specimens in the British Museum coll. 

 are those from St. Petersburg, England, Eperies, Greece, and Syria. 

 These are bluer, with less purple in their tint, than the mountain 

 races, which are deeper in colour, apart from the broader and more 

 suffused black margin and suffused nervures that help to darken the 

 ground colour. Gillmer states that, in Germany, the blue colour of 

 the $ is usually of a deep, more rarely of a lighter, blue tint, with or 

 without a reddish sheen. Blachier says that the $ s in the lowlying 

 parts of Switzerland are of a more or less bright violet-blue, those of 

 the mountains being darker, although a specimen captured at Altanca,in 

 Ticino, is blue without a trace of violet, yet Knecht states that the $ s 

 are very dark at Bisbinno, also in Ticino. Reverdin also observes 

 that, the $ s from the Alps, in his collection, are of a darker colour 

 than those from the lowlands. Two $ s in our collection, taken at 

 Aigle(May), are of a slaty-blue tint = &b. plumbea,n. ab. Two^ s, some- 

 what similar in tint, labelled "Maiatia, Mesopotamia (Staudinger)," are 

 in the British Museum coll., but have the underside closely approaching 

 that of var. persica ; these specimens are the types of our var. meso- 

 potamica, n. var. The occasional development of beautiful pinky-red 

 marginal spots on the upperside of the hindwings in the $ of the 

 lovely var. antiochena, needs only to be referred to here. Various $ s 

 of this species show considerable difference in the width of the 

 dark margin on the upperside of all the wings, although, according 

 to our observation, the width is rather racial than otherwise. It 

 appears to matter little whether the specimens be taken in a moderately 

 high or low latitude, provided the ground is open and little above sea- 

 level, the colour is generally brighter, and the marginal band narrow, 

 e.g., in England (both broods), Norway — Saeterstoen (June, only brood), 

 Gresy-sur-Aix, Chavoire, foot of Grand Saleve (late July and August, 

 second brood) ; examples from these places in our collection have quite 

 narrow borders. In the British Museum coll., those from St. Petersburg, 

 Hungary, Greece, Syria, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, all show narrow 

 borders, apparently racially. The narrow-bordered form, as represented 

 by the British, Norwegian (Saeterstoen), lowlands of France, and 

 German examples clearly belongs to cymon, Lewin (= angustimargo, 

 Gillm.), whilst those with somewhat wider borders, but of the same 

 type in general colour, etc., are the semiargus, v. Rott., described 

 originally, we believe, from central German examples { = latimaryo, 

 Gillm.); acis, Schiff., is most probably the large, bright, narrow - 

 margined form that occurs freely in the lowlands of Austria-Hungary. 

 It is to be noted that whilst the Oriental forms belonging to Greece 

 and Syria have quite narrow bands, those belonging to Bulgaria and 

 Persia have broad bands. This alone is sufficient to prove that the 

 figure of bellis, Frr., is the Grecian form of this species (and it is absolutely 

 identical with the specimens sent out by Staudinger as parnassia, in 

 colour, width of margin, and size), whilst the wider-margined Persian 

 race disagrees entirely with Preyer's figure of bellis, and certainly should 

 not have been referred thereto by Staudinger. There are some two dozen 

 examples of these Persian forms in the British Museum coll. alone, sent 



