172 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



7T7T. ab. basijuncta, Tutt, " Ent. Rec," xxii., p. 51 (1910). Icarus ab., Bird, 

 " Ent. Rec," xviii., p. 280 (1906). — The penultimate spot of the submedian series 

 of hindwings united to the penultimate basal spot, thus forming a short line 

 parallel to the inner margin. 



One suspects this is a rare form ; we have only one example, 

 a $ , captured at Cuxton, on August 19th, 1887. The two spots in 

 this specimen are considerably approximated so that the streak is 

 unusually short. Bird notes (Ent. Rec, xviii., p. 280) a $ in which 

 the left hindwing has the spots between lb and \c (Meyrick's system) 

 united, i.e., it is of the form basijuncta on one side only. Gillmer 

 describes (Int. Ent. Zeits. Gab., ii., p. 154) specimens from Beske's 

 coll. made at Hamburg between 1826 and 1829, combining(l) arcuata 

 with basijuncta, and (2) both these forms with confluence between 

 basal and discoidal spots of the forewing. In the British Museum 

 coll. is a specimen from Catania (Zeller coll.) combining arcuata and 

 basijuncta. 



pp. ab. argenteoguttata, n. ab. Alexis ab., Webb, "Ent. Rec.," L, p. 282 

 (1891). — With the marginal markings on the hindwings ocellated beneath with 

 bright metallic scales, similar to those of Plebeius argus, etc. 



One suspects this to be a very rare form. We have overhauled a 

 large number of our captures and failed to find a single specimen. 



ss. ab. subtm-obscurior, Obth., "Etudes," etc., xx., p. 23, pi. iv., fig. 45 (1896). 

 — § . The underside very dark, the black spots markedly circled with white. 

 Caneale (Oberthiir). 



tt. ab. brunnea, Fuchs, " Jahrb. Nass. Ver. Naturk.," liii., p. 31 (1900). — 

 Underside of all the wings reddish-grey to reddish-grey-brown, with the usual 

 markings. Everywhere with the type in South and Central Europe. In the 

 second brood of P. icarus in South and Central Europe the underside is 

 browner in many specimens, the ? having a more rust-brown tint than the i , a 

 form parallel with the summer form of astrarche. This colouring is also found in 

 the blue form of the ? , which may equally well be called caerulea from the upper- 

 side or brunnea from the underside (Fuchs). 



vv. ab.( ? var.) septentrionalis, Fuchs, " Jahrb. Nass. Ver. Naturk.," liii., p. 31 

 (1900). — Underside of all the wings polished grey with a greenish tone, lighter ( <? ) or 

 darker ( ? ), the black eye-spots sharply ringed with white. In North Europe from 

 Tromso and Bodo. Characteristic examples also come from Bodo and Tromso, 

 called in Staudinger's price list " var. e, Norvegica pol." [presumably meaning 

 " from polar Norway "], but, so far, nameless; their wings appear to be longer 

 and more angulated at the apex, from being narrow, especially at the base ; the 

 underside is the most characteristic, the <? being generally, but not always, lighter 

 than the ? ; the number of eyespots is reduced, the basal spots of the forewings 

 in particular being absent or rudimentary. The ? s have blue at the bases of 

 all the wings, and a little at the border of the hindwing by the obsolescent reddish- 

 yellow spots (Fuchs). 



Fuchs' suggestion that this form of coloration of the underside of 

 P. icarus is racial in Scandinavia hardly fits the facts. Our Scandi- 

 navian examples show none of this polished grey with a greenish tone, 

 though the sexual difference is well-marked. Schilde also makes (Ent. 

 Nach., 1884, p. 368) no mention of this greenish tint although he 

 mentions that the ground colour of the underside of the Bodo examples 

 shows the sexual difference more strongly, in both sexes, than do 

 German specimens. 



European Forms. 



It is very dubious whether any of the European forms are dis- 

 tinctly racial, not that the southern celina is not developed sufficiently 

 to give it a marked facies, but it occurs merely aberrationally in the 

 spring emergence, and is not wholly characteristic of the summer 



