266 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



latter are what both authors figure. Bergstrasser, as noted above, does 

 not allowhis%2m?<sadiscoidal lunule on the underside of the hindwings. 



rj. ab. byzene, Bergstr., "Nom.,"iii., p. 14, pi. lvii.,figs. 3-4 (1779). Argiolus, 

 Esp."_Schmett.Eur..';i., pi. xxi., fig. lo, ? (1777); i., p. 277(1779).— P.P.R. alis fuscis, 

 solitario subtus in utrisque sed irregulari'ocellorum dispersorum arcu. Wings brown; 

 beneath on both wings an irregular arcuated row of scattered small ocellated spots. 

 The ? of the former. Both are copied from Esper (Bergstrasser). 



The peculiar characters of byzene are the basal, narrowly-oval, 

 bluish-grey* mark on the upperside of the hindwings, and the dark 

 ground-colour of the underside; the markings are normal. Esper's 

 figure referred to is exceedingly bad, over-coloured even more than the 

 $ , quite unlike anything that occurs in the species. His description 

 "the wings entirely dark brown without markings and with white 

 fringes, the underside as in the $ ," is true enough of the species, 

 but does not apply to the figure. 



Underside Aberrations. 



a. ab. aetnaea, Zell., " Isis," p. 148 (1847) Riihl, " Pal. Gross-Schmett.," i., p. 

 298(1895); Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 155(1896); Wheeler, "Butts. Switz.," p. 25 

 (1903); Lamb., "Cat. Lep. Belg.," p. 428 (1907). Crassipuncta, Gillm., " Int. Ent. 

 Zeits. Guben," ii., pp. 312-13 (1909). — Amongst several specimens of Polyommatus 

 alexis which were flying in the forest regions of Mt. iEtna on June 30th, I caught, 

 amongst others, a poor $ of acis, which shows such peculiar characteristics that 

 I very much regret I did not search for more, for I am almost inclined to regard it 

 as a distinct species. The forewings are a trifle narrower and more pointed than in 

 the type ; the underside is light brown without any mixture of grey ; in the fore- 

 wings the discoidal is not a fine line but a small reniform spot ; tho ocellated spots 

 forming the submedian row are of equal size on all the wings, larger than in acis 

 with a sharper white margin, but a much more important character is that, in both 

 wings, this submedian row is nearer the outer margin than the discal lunule, whereas 

 in acis the opposite is the case ; on the hindwings the second ocellus from the costa, 

 stands much nearer the third than is usual, and the first three form a straight line, 

 whereas, in acis, the smaller second eyespot is always placed inwards. The 

 fringes and coloration of the base of the hindwings not different (Zeller). 



Zeller's typical specimen of aetnaea is a $ in poor condition, con- 

 sequently of rather poor colour on the upperside, with a slight 

 narrowing of the wings, but not more so than specimens in the British 

 Museum coll. from many other places, e.g., Granada, Lac d'Oo, 

 Vienna, etc., but with the spots on the underside exceptionally well- 

 developed, but even then not more so than aberrations from Granada, 

 Bornich, Bergun, Bulgaria, Bosnia, etc., indeed, this seems to be a 

 very usual form of variation in most localities. The underside 

 coloration, too, is quite typical of its sex. The specimen really 

 carries no special characters beyond these, and one is surprised at 

 Zeller giving it a local name. Calberla notes it from Meddia and 

 Moglia. 



(3. ab. caeca, Fuchi, " Stett. Ent. Ztg.," p. ?53 (1883); Riihl, "Pal. Gross- 

 Schmett.,"i., pp. 298,767 (1895); Tutt, " Brit. Butts.," p. 165 (1896) ; Wheel., 

 " Butts. Switz.," p. 25 (1905) ; Krod., " Zeits. fiir Ent.," ix.. p. 52 (1904). Coeca, 

 Kroul., ■■ Soc. Ent.," vii., p. 172 (1908); "Iris," xxi., pp.202e« seq. (1908); Lamb., 

 "Cat. Lep. Belg.," p. 428 (1907).— Hindwings beneath without ocellated spots ; 

 forewings with only one. This one is that which, in normal specimens, is directly 

 over tho double spot near the inner margin ; it is indicated by a faint bent mark 

 turned towards the base. This particular specimen happens also to be 

 exceptionally large, much larger than is usual in local scmiargits, the latter 

 character, however, being shared with Bergun examples, from which, however, 

 again it differs in having a narrow marginal black border to all the wings. The 



• This varies in different copies of the work, some having this mark bluish- 

 grey, others quite bright blue. 



