CYANIRIS SEMIARGUS. 261 



wings, and the basal on hindwings, normal = ab. lineata, n. ab. A 

 similar specimen has been photographed by Krodel, bat appears 

 not to have been described or published. In some examples, spots 

 7 and 8 in the hindwings are united into an U or C (placed sideways) 

 ( = ab. c-nigrum, n. ab.), forming as it were, an arc, or a reversed 

 crescent ; Blachier notes (in litt.) a $ and £ thus marked ; and there 

 are also examples in our own and the British Museum coll. 

 There is also considerable variation in the number of the spots 

 on the underside. As already pointed out, the normal number of spots is 

 seven on the fore- and eight on the hindwing. It occasionally happens, 

 however, that there are more than this, we have seen a spot 9 just 

 beyond 8 on the hindwing, also extra, small, spots between the discoidal 

 and the submedian row of the fore- or hindwings = ab. excessa, n. ab. 

 Blachier notes {in lift.) a $ from Simplon in which there are four 

 small, black, white-margined spots between the discoidal lunule and 

 spots 2 and 3 on the right forewing ; in the British Museum coll. is a 

 similar specimen, from Lac d'Oo, 4000ft., July, 1902, with an extra, 

 small, white-margined spot between spot 1 and the discoidal lunule, 

 two others between spot 3 and the lunule, on the right forewing and 

 one on the left forewing, whilst spot 4 is much extended ; Becher (Ent.) 

 says that, at Carlsbad, there is a tendency to vary in the number of spots 

 on the underside, and that a $ he captured there has, on the left 

 forewing, two spots shaped like the figure 8 between the discoidal 

 lunule and the usual row of black spots. Keynes observes (Ent. Rec, 

 xviii., p. 176) that he captured a specimen on August 11th, 1905, 

 near the Kaltwasser Gallery, with two extra spots on the underside of 

 the hindwings, between the discoidal lunule and usual submedian row of 

 spots. In the opposite direction there may be a decrease in the number of 

 spots, rarely there are absolutely none — ab. spadae, Hellw., and there 

 may be any intermediate number between the normal number and this 

 most obsolete form; these intermediates = ab. caeca, Fuchs (paucipuncta, 

 Gillm.). This aberration may occur in either sex ; is more often found 

 in the fore- than in the hindwings and more frequently symmetrical on 

 the two sides, although sometimes it is asymmetrical. This form with 

 reduced spotting, Gillmer says, occurs more frequently in the $ . 

 Blachier states that, of the spots that disappear, 6 and 7 of the 

 superior wings and 2 of the inferior wings are wanting in two 

 examples in his collection, whilst another example lacks spot 1 in the 

 forewings and 7 and 8 in the hindwings. He has also a $ , taken at 

 Les Plans, above Bex, which has only the discoidal lunules and a spot 

 on each hindwing (spot 4), all the other spots being absent. Eeverdin 

 observes (in litt.) that he finds among the examples in his collection the 

 following: — forewings : Spot 7 lacking in 5 examples ; 6 and 7 in 19 

 examples; 1 and 7 in 1 example; 1, 6 and 7 in 2 examples. Hind- 

 wings : 7 and 8 lacking in 3 examples (the spotting on the forewings 

 being complete). He adds : Examples in which ocellated spots are 

 absent symmetrically in all 4 wings are very rare, but in 6 $ s and 1 2 

 some spots are absent on all the wings, but asymmetrically in one, 

 from Kienthal, the right forewing has spots 2, 3, 4 and 5, the left fore- 

 wing spots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Rebel observes (hep. En. Balk., ii., 

 p. 187), that a $ from Trebevic shows on the underside of the forewings 

 only the discoidal spot, whilst, on the hindwings, besides the central 

 spot there were only the four most central spots of the outer row. 

 In the British Museum coll. are many examples of both sexes, showing 



