350 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



the three lower in turn with red lunules, again edged inwardly with 

 blackish ; the hindwings entirely blue to margin, with an outer- 

 marginal series of black interneural dots as in $ , edged with red 

 crescents. These two ? s present a very coarse appearance, and are, 

 strangely, nearer to Esper's original figure of ceronus (SSchmett. Eur., pi. 

 xc. (cont. xl.), fig. 2) than any other of the long series of $ s in the 

 collection. Blachier notes (in litt.) of five $ punctifera in his collection, 

 that the black interneural dots on the upperside of the hindwings are 

 very large and round in two $ s, smaller and triangular in a third; 

 four have also well-marked interneural spots on the forewings, 

 impinging on the black line that edges the fringe, the black line being 

 thicker than in normal European $ s ; the extremities of the nervures 

 are black. The only 2 he has is brown, slightly powdered with pale 

 blue scales, the hindwings with large orange lunules, and with big 

 marginal dots, edged exteriorly with little white arcs. He further 

 notes that a $ from Sebdou has the black dots in cellules 2 and 3 on 

 the upperside of the hindwings, surmounted with small, rather 

 indistinct, red spots ; Miss Fountaine also records the capture, among 

 others, at Sebdou, in July, 1904, of a ^ in which there were orange 

 spots on the upperside of the hindwings ; this form is certainly 

 sufficiently striking to be named, and we would call it ab. rufolunulata, 

 n. ab. ; Walker notes (Tram. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1890, p. 373) that 

 " summer examples of the $ , taken in the Straits of Gibraltar district, 

 S. Koque, etc., have a submarginal row of bright orange dots on the 

 upperside of the hindwings. [Grund observes that a $ taken in 

 Croatia, at Podsused, on May 19th, 1906, perfectly represents the ab. 

 punctifera, Obth., the black marginal spots of the hindwings large, and 

 separated from the margin by a white edging, whilst, on the forewings, 

 also, is a row of small black spots before the outer margin. One is 

 chary about accepting this as referable to punctifera, which only stands 

 as the geographical race from Mauretania.] The nearest g- in the 

 British Museum coll. to punctifera, is one from Estoril in Portugal, 

 the nearest 2, one marked " Hispania, Leech coll.," which, however, 

 shows discoidal lunules in the hindwings, as well as in the forewings, 

 which the Algerian examples do not ; the shade of red is similar in 

 both, but the Spanish has less blue, and what there is, is less bright. 

 Staudinger notes (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 86) the colour of the $ as " viridi- 

 cseruleus ; " we have not noticed any "'green" tinge in the ground 

 colour of the $ s that we have examined. 



Both Sexes (Upperside). 



a. ab. minor, Tutt, "Brit. Butts.," p. 171(1896); Muschamp, "Ball. Soc. 

 Lep. Geneve," i., p. 264 (1908). BeMargus ab., Bond, " Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond.," 

 1868, p. xlii (1868); Staud., " Hor. Soc. Ent. Boss.," xvi., p. 66 (1881); Tutt, 

 " Ent.," xx., p. 324 (1886). — Specimens of both sexes of not more than two-thirds 

 the normal size, especially frequent in the late brood, following hot, dry summers 

 (Tutt). 



Small examples are not at all infrequent in the autumn brood in 

 most Kent localities ; in some seasons (e.g., 18S7, 1893, etc.), a very fair 

 proportion is small. Staudinger notes in his " Lepidoptera of Asia 

 Minor" (Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross., 1881, p. 66), that Johann sent him a speci- 

 men which only measured 21mm. in expanse, smaller, therefore, than 

 many Cupido mini dins. Muschamp records the capture of some small 

 examples, 24mm. and less, at Hermance and Gaillard, near Geneva, 



