CYANIRIS SEMIARGUS. 267 



essential character of caeca is, therefore, the almost complete absence of the 

 ocellated spots on the underside of all the "wings. The specimen was taken 

 at Eperies by Dahlstrom, who found it in a damp meadow with typical 

 semiargus. Whether this aberration has a wider range has yet to be determined ; 

 it has not yet been found with us, but semiargus, although spread all over the 

 Taunus, is rather scarce, occurring locally in two broods (Fuchs). 



This is a form with most of the spots in the submedian row of both 

 fore- and hindwings wanting. Kroulikowsky notes (Soc. Ent., vii., 

 p. 163) the capture of a $ of the ab. caeca near Sarapoul, in the Govt, 

 of Wiatka, in 1880. He further notes (Iris, xxi., pp. 202 et seg.) two 

 examples captured at Kasan, and one at Mariinsky-Possad. Krodel 

 writes (Zeits. fiir Ent., ix., p. 52) that ab. caeca, Fuchs, is a transition 

 form to spadae, Hellw., with only one ocellated spot in the central row 

 on the -underside of the forewings ; he adds that he received a S of 

 semiargus belonging to this intermediate form, with two rudimentary 

 little eyespots on each hindwing captured on July 19th, 1901, on the 

 Albula Pass between Preda and Weissenstein. A fine large $ > in the 

 British Museum coll., without data, only fails in being ab. spadae, by 

 having spot 4 on the hindwings developed ; in this specimen the dis- 

 coidal spots on the hindwings are somewhat obsolescent ; many other 

 examples are wanting in two or three spots on the forewing and three 

 or four on the hindwing (see antea pp. 261-2, 264). 



y. ab. spadae, Hellweger, " Ent. Zeits. Guben," x., p. 67 (1896) ; Krod., "111. 

 Zeits. fur Ent.," ix., p. 52 (1904). Caeca, Gillm., "Int. Ent. Zeits. Gub," ii., pp. 

 312-3 (1909). — Two J s captured in the limestone mountains north of Innsbruck, 

 at 1100m. elevation, mid-July, 1895. The special feature of this aberration is the 

 entire absence of all the ocelli on the underside of all the wings, the discoidal 

 lunules only remaining. On the forewings, the discoidal spot has the normal form 

 of a short, black, white-edged, transverse line (repeated as a black line 

 on the upperside) ; on the hindwing, the discoidal spot is much reduced, has lost 

 the usual cordiform outline, and consists merely of a fine, straight, little stroke, 

 with a broad, white margin on the left hindwing, whilst, on the right hindwing, the 

 black kernel has been absorbed by the white edging. In colour and its other 

 markings it corresponds with the type (Hellweger). 



Hence it appears that ab. spadae is nearest to ab. caeca, Fuchs, but 

 goes a step further. It is, indeed, the extreme form of obsolescence in 

 the species, caeca only forming a transition to spadae. A first-class 

 specimen of ab. spadae is in the British Museum coll., but is without 

 data ; it is a rather small $ , absolutely without markings on the 

 underside except the discoidals. We have a similar $ , identical in 

 its markings, captured at Simplon, July 29th, 1899. Gillmer says 

 (Int. Ent. Zeits., ii., p. 318), that the form in which the spots have 

 entirely disappeared is rare, and chiefly occurs in the g . 



d. ab. striata, Wheeler, " Butts. Switz.,"p. 25 (1903). Semiargus ab., Courv., 

 "Mitt. Schweiz. Ent. Ges.," xi., p. 19(1903); ? Aigner-Abafi, " Ann. Mus. Nat. 

 Hung.," p. 517 (1906). Elongata, Gillm., "Int. Ent. Zeit. Guben," ii., pp. 312- 

 313 (1909). — Specimens in which some of the spots of the underside are extended 

 into streaks (Wheeler). 



This is the form in which only some of the spots are elongated into 

 streaks. Wheeler recorded this form as occurring, to his knowledge, only 

 in the 2 • Courvoisier (probably on the strength of Wheeler's record) 

 notes under his " FormaB elongata?," also only in the ? , " specimens with 

 the ocellated spots in the submedian row enlarged; commoner in the 

 forewings than in the hindwings, but sometimes in all the wings " (Mitt, 

 Schiv. Ent. Ges., xi., p. 19); similarly, Gillmer, under the name of 

 elongata, notes specimens as occurring, especially in the $ , " with an 

 elongation of the spots in the fore- and hindwings or only in the fore- 



