182 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



All the $ s have a series of black spots on the outer margin of the 

 hindwings ; the ground colour of the 2 is rather darker than that of 

 ordinary European specimens of this sex, and of that of P. ariana. 

 The undersurface is in both sexes darker than in typical P. icarus. 

 . . . The species is not uncommon at high elevations in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ta-chien-lu, and I have received it from Wa-ssu-Kou and 

 How-Kow. It does not appear to occur in central China." 

 Elwes says (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1906, p. 485) that 

 " specimens from Lhasa are larger than the next species (stoliczkana) r 

 and agree with the form which Leech calls P. icarus, from west Thibet, 

 in having black-margined spots on the hindwing above." [" West 

 Thibet " is evidently a lapsus calami for " China " (see supra)] . This 

 thibetana form, then, is also hylas-b\u.e in colour, with marginal spots 

 on hindwing. The following are the described Asiatic forms of this 

 species : — 



a. var. turanica, Buhl, "Pal. Gross-Schmett.," p. 761(1895); Tutt, "Brit. 

 Butts.," p. 176(1896). Persica, Krodel, " Allg. Zeits. Ent.," ix., p. 50 (1904); 

 Gillm., "Int. Ent. Zeits. Gub.," iv., p. 3 (1910).— Upperside of s lighter blue 

 than that of P. icarus ; the upperside of the ? entirely without blue scales. Under- 

 side very light, almost similar to that of var. persica. Tura (Buhl). 



Buhl's description really gives no tangible difference from European 

 specimens except his last remark that the underside is very light. 

 The Persian examples ( $ ) in the British Museum coll. are, as a whole, 

 both on the upper- and undersides, quite similar to European in facies 

 in both sexes, showing a similar range of variation in size, colour, and 

 general appearance, and in the spotting of the underside, except 

 that the underside .ground colour tends to be perhaps a 

 trifle paler, but even this is problematical ; the form with specially 

 pale colour, ill-developed marginal lunules, small dots, etc., which 

 becomes racial farther east, in Beloochistan and Afghanistan, and has 

 been already described as fugitiva, Butl., being of very rare occurrence 

 as an aberration. With few exceptions, also, the $ s in the extensive 

 Syrian series have well-spotted undersides, the tone of the ground 

 colour agreeing largely with three $ s labelled " Mts. of Noith Persia 

 — Shakhuh— Christoph coll., 8. vii. 71 ; 21. vii. 78 ; 25. vii. '87," 

 which have brightly marked pale grey undersides, with well-defined 

 ocellated spots and well-marked fulvous lunules, quite of the Asia 

 Minor forms in these details. A $ belonging to this lot has all the 

 wings unicolorous fuscous, except for the faintest possible trace of 

 marginal dots on the hindwings ; the underside of this example is 

 pale fawn in tint. Four other examples from "N.-W. Persia — Seir, 

 8m. west of Urumiah. Aug. 16th, 1898 (R. T. Giinther/' have quite 

 typical uppersides, the undersides inclining to the discreta form, the 

 spots well-developed, the $ s browner-grey than usual, the fulvous of 

 both sexes bright, and all of the icarinus form. It will be seen from 

 this that there is really no very definite Persian " local race" of this 

 species, and the giving of a local name, as did Bienert, to a single 

 extreme aberration ( = ab. pei'sica), in which the basal and submedian 

 spots were wanting, is to be deprecated, although the name having 

 been given, it must, in order to maintain stability of nomenclature, be 

 retained for just the form for which Bienert intended it. His statement 

 that this occurred with " specimens having sharply defined black 

 marginal spots with the red marginal lunules scarcely indicated," as well 



