270 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Meiringen, in the British Museum coll. is quite this size, although 

 Meiringen examples are specially noted by Meyer-Diir (supra) as being 

 " not larger than oytilete" It is really, as a rule, not until one gets 

 well above 5000 ft., that the var. montana, as such, occurs. Then the 

 comparison with Plebeius argus (a eg on) might hold, if fair-sized " plain " 

 forms of P. argus were used for the comparison. These high alpine 

 forms are, as Staudinger notes (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 89), "minor, latius nigro- 

 marginata," and the diagnosis appears perfectly true of real high-alpine 

 specimens, Hofner noting that the most extreme examples from the 

 Vorderberg Moss and the Sau- Alpe in Carinthia, have the marginal border 

 extending to the middle of the wing. In our own collection we have 

 specimens that might be referred here, taken by ourselves at le Lautaret 

 (7000 ft.), the Val Veni (6500 ft.), Dischma-Thal (6000 ft.), Arolla 

 (7000 ft.); also from Lolling, Kor Alpe, Sau Alpe (Chapman). Frey says 

 (Lep. Schweiz,j). 21) that high alpine specimens are remarkably small, 

 whilst Lang states that the name refers to "the small specimens taken 

 in the higher alps, and which do not differ from the type except in their 

 smaller size," but one doubts whether any high alpine specimens 

 merely vary in this way, the type being brighter coloured, and much 

 less suffused than those from the highest alps. Frey notes it as 

 occurring from 6000 ft. -7000 ft., at Zermatt, tbe Lower-Engadine and 

 the Stelvio. Wheeler gives its measurements as 25mm. -27mm. and 

 adds " with darker ground colour," and notes it from " the Blumenthal, 

 above Miirren, top of Simplon Pass (Wheeler), Gornergrat, Great St. 

 Bernard (Favre), Dischmathal, Roseg Glacier (Fison)." Bath 

 mentions it from Kandersteg, Gemmi Pass, St. Niklaus, Zermatt, 

 Zmutt-Thal, and the Rinel-Alp. 



Asiatic Races. 



a. var. uralensis, n. var. — cf , 33mm. -37mm., ? , 36mm.-38mm. A fine large 

 race ; the S s dark purplish-blue, with a well-developed blackish marginal border 

 on all wings ; suffused nervures, distinct discoidal, and white fringes. The ? s 

 uniform dark brownish-fuscous ; fringes grey. Underside <? grey, ? brownish- 

 grey ; spotting as in European type, but often reduced in number and size. 

 Captured Miashk, June, 1900, by Grum-Grshimailo (British Museum coll.). 



This race is very like var. altaiana, but the $ s are somewhat 

 darker in tint, and the ? s tend to be rather larger than the^ s. Like 

 altaiana, there is a tendency for the spots on the underside to be some- 

 times reduced in number and size. 



|8. var. altaiana, n. var. 30mm.-3Gmm. S of a somewhat bright, but still 

 deep, purple-blue, with broad, dark, hind-marginal border to fore- and hindwings ; 

 discoidal lunules well-defined ; nervures suffused ; fringes Avhite. 9 unicolorous 

 brownish-fuscous, fringes grey. Underside J dark grey, 2 brownish-grey ; dis- 

 coidal lunules well-defined in forewings, ill-defined in hindwings ; submedian row 

 of spots inclined to be small, 6 and 7 of forewings often absent. 



Of this Central Asiatic form, there are, in the British Museum coll., 

 several examples very similar in general appearance ; they are of fairly 

 large size, but smaller than var. amurensis and var. uralensis. It is on 

 the upperside somewhat like balcanica in general appearance, but is much 

 more purple-blue than the European race, and the obsoletely-marked 

 underside is very different. The examples noted are — (1) two $ s, one 

 2 , " Changai mountains, 1899 (Leder)," the $ slightly smaller than 

 the $ s ; (2) one $ , " Ongodai, Altai mountains, 1898 (Berezowsky)," 

 one ?, "Ongodai, 3000ft-5000ft., 28. vii. '98 (Jacobson)," entirely 



