AGRIADES CORIDON. 



59 



This is the Lebanon form of A. cor i Jon, included by Staudinger in 

 his little mixture labelled " polonus " (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 86), and hence 

 recorded as bellargus by Mrs. Nicholl (Ent. Ilec, xiii., p. 207), where 

 she says that she captured it on June 9th near Hasbeyah, in the 

 Hermon district, by a nice spring in the chalk-hills. The same 

 specimens are recorded by Elwes (Trans. Ent. Soc. LoncL, 1901, p. 93) as 

 polonus, and are said to have occurred " in the Lebanon and Antilebanon 

 commonly between 8000ft. and 6000ft." Of them Elwes remarks : 

 " Staudinger refers the form found in the Lebanon to var. polonus 

 .... Mrs. Nicholl's specimens differ from the type of A. 

 bellargus in their colour and broader border above, and are apparently 

 quite as near the Caucasian form of A. coridon as they, are to A. 

 bellargus. The underside, though paler than in A. bellargus, seems 

 more like that than A. coridon." Miss Fountaine found the same 

 form between Bsherreh and the Cedars of Lebanon, June 4th-llth, 

 1901, where it was fairly common in theclried-up bed of a stream ; the 

 2 s, however, were rare, and only two specimens were captured. She 

 adds (Ent., xxxv., p. 98): " In calling it polonus, I am submitting to 

 the superior knowledge of Mr. Elwes and Mrs. Nicholl, for it seems to 

 me to approach much more nearly to A. coridon than A. bellargus, and 

 to answer exactly the description (? Staudinger's) of var. corgdonius, 

 H.-Sch." 



e. var. olympica, Led., "Verh. zool.-bot. Gesell.," ii., p. 36(1852); Kirby, 

 "Syn. Cat.," p. 368 (1871). Corydonius, Led., "Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg.," xiii., 

 p. 23 (1869-1870); Staud., " Hor. Soc. Ent. Boss.," xiv., p. 245 (1879); Riihl, 

 "Pal. Gross-Schmett.," pp. 279, 763 (1892-5); Tutt, "Brit. Butts.," p. 168 (1896); 

 Fountaine, " Ent.," xxxvii., p. 157 (1904). — The var. olympica, from the Olympus 

 near Brussa (perhaps referable to the var. osmar, Heydnrch., which is not particu- 

 larly described), is distinguished by the pale milk-blue colour of the <j ; it also has 

 a mariscolore form of the $ , parallel with the French silvery-green mariscolore 

 form of the ? , but the Turkish local ? aberration has entirely the pale milk-blue 

 colour of the <? (Lederer). 



There is a good series of this beautiful form in the British Museum 

 coll. labelled corgdonius, evidently owing to a blind following of 

 Staudinger, who (Oat., 2nd ed., p. 12; 3rd ed.,p. 86), having described 

 corgdonius as " violaceo-caBrulescente," referred erroneously the "pale 

 milk-blue," or rather lavender-blue, olympica, Led., to corgdonius as a 

 synonym, together with ossmar, Gerh., apparently merely because they 

 all came from "Turkey-in-Asia," or as Staudinger puts it, "Asia Minor 

 mountains" (2nd ed., p. 12) and " Pontus, Taurus" (3rd eel., p. 86). 

 Riihl describes (Pal. Gross-Schmett., p. 278) his corgdonius $ from the 

 Tokat Alps, in Lederer's words "milk-blue," and adds as further 

 localities (p. 763), " Kerasdere (July, August), Caraman, Brussa (com- 

 mencement August)." Miss Fountaine also records it (Ent., xxxvii., 

 p. 157) underthe name corgdonius, and states that she took her first speci- 

 men at Tokat, July 13th, but did not see any more till she returned to 

 Amasia (about July 17th), but it was not at all common, and only two 

 2 s and about ten or twelve $ s were taken altogether. The specimens 

 in the British Museum coll., which we should describe as being of a 

 very pale lavender tint, are well-spotted beneath, and those from 

 " Shar Deresy — N. Syria," are exactly like those labelled Smyrna, 

 Amasia, Kulek, etc. [This "Kulek" labelled specimen is interesting, 

 as, if correctly labelled, it shows that the pale lavender olympica here 

 overlaps the bright wide-margined corgdonius (see antea, p. 58)] . 



Egglaying. — A $ was observed on August 12th, 1900, at Abries, 



