CYANIRIS SEMIARGUS. 281 



orange marginal lunules, both on the upper- and underside of the wings, of 

 both sexes, reach their highest development. It is diagnosed by Staudinger 

 (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 89) as " supra al. omn. fascia rufa. Antioch, Syria, 

 Taurus," but this summary leaves- out the brilliant blue coloration that 

 also characterises the 2 • It further includes the "Taurus" specimens, 

 which are very different, and belong to var. intermedia. Lederer's figures 

 (Wien. Ent. Monats., v., pi. i., figs. 2-8), bad as they may appear in black 

 and white, leave no doubt whatever as to the form they are intended 

 to represent, viz., the extreme development of var. Helena in which 

 the g s are of the same clear blue, with white fringes and linear black 

 marginal borders to the wings, but with traces of pinky-fulvous showing 

 through on the upperside of the hindwings, whilst the 2 has the same 

 distinct orange band, but the ground colour of the forewing and hind- 

 wing suffused with a beautiful bright blue from the base to the 

 orange band, and from the inner margin to the subcostal nervure, and, 

 in the hindwing, extending sometimes even to the outer margin above 

 the orange band. The underside has, in both sexes, larger and 

 better-developed spots in the submedian rows of both fore- and hind- 

 wings, and the orange is also well-developed on both wings, less so, 

 however, than in those of the var. Helena in the British Museum coll. 

 These examples are labelled — two J s "Djebel Kineyseh, Syria, 1900 

 (Nicholl)," one $ " Lebanon, 5500ft. (Nicholl)," one $ "Cedars of 

 Lebanon, 21. v. 1900 (Nicholl)," one 2 "Lebanon, 4500ft., vi. 1900 

 (Nicholl)," one 2 " Lebanon, 7000ft., vi. 1900 (Nicholl)," the latter 

 not so brightly-coloured as the other 2 • Our own exaniples from 

 " Ain Zahalta (Graves)," show this to be a most beautiful insect ; the 

 $ s with a marginal row of red lunules on the upperside of the hind- 

 wings, the 2 with its mixture of brilliant blue and orange, a 

 most delightful insect. Mrs. Nicholl records (Ent. Bee, xiii., p. 

 171) the capture of this extreme form, May 14th, 1900, at Beit 

 Chabab, a flourishing village in the Lebanon, at about 3000ft. eleva- 

 tion, also on May 17th, 1900, on the lower slopes of Djebel Sunnin, 

 near Zahleh, at about 5000ft. elevation, whilst two days later, on the 

 eastern side of the ridge, she states that only the var. Helena-'* occurred, 

 but no more antiochena. Miss Fountaine says (Ent., xxxv., p. 98) 

 that the var. antiochena was common near Maharain, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ain Zahalta, in April, 1901, the 2 s much rarer than the S s 

 but extremely beautiful, being shot with vivid blue on all the wings, 

 in addition to the broad orange border; all the $ s had minute orange 

 spots on the hindwings, on the upperside, near the anal angle, more 

 distinct, and on all the wings, beneath, in both sexes. Miss Fountaine 

 states that she could not trace much resemblance to C. semiargus in 

 either sex, in size, shape, or colour. Graves took this beautiful form 

 at the Ain Zahalta Cedars, Jebel Barouk, at about 6500ft. elevation, 

 though a worn $ was captured some 2000ft. lower ; he adds (in litt.) 

 that, " although this is always said to be a variety of C. semiargus, it 

 appears not to bear the slightest resemblance to the semiargus of the 

 Grisons ; the development of the reddish-orange markings, so 

 beautifully developed in this species, is noticeable in several other 



* One of these specimens is apparently in the British Museum coll., and 

 appears to be merely a less brilliantly coloured example of antiochena than the 

 others, which are exceptionally fine. 



