192 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



i. var. (?ab.) sihirica, Fuchs, " Jahrb. Nass. Ver. Nat.," liii., p. 31 (1900); 

 Seitz, " Gross- Schmett.," p. 312 (1909). — Larger and with broader wings, the s 

 entirely without black border, but with sharp black edging line, the roots of the 

 fringe of the forewing only slightly grey, the underside of one shade, pale, the 

 white ring round the eyespots obsolete, sometimes entirely wanting on the forewing. 

 Two g s from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia (about 55°N. and 95°E.). The wings are 

 both longer and broader than in German examples, the forewing measuring 18mm. 

 from root to apex as against 16mm. -17mm. of the largest German examples in 

 depcriber's collection. The very narrow black border line shows up very sharply 

 against the fringe on account of the whiteness of the latter throughout its breadth. 

 The colour of one of the specimens is of a darker violet-blue than the other. The 

 underside of both is pale grey, especially so on the forewing, which in the one case 

 is so nearly white that the usual white circle of the eyespots disappears, while in 

 the other it is only obsolescent, the paler of the two is of the icarinus form (Fuchs). 



This description of two odd J s of different tint and differently- 

 conditioned underside under a wide racial name is much to be depre- 

 cated. So far as Fuchs' description of these two $ s goes, it a,ppears 

 to be applicable only to $ s of large size, with entirely white fringes, 

 and with no white rings to the usually ocellated spots of the underside. 

 The description disagrees essentially with all the Siberian specimens 

 of this species that we have inspected, e.g., from the northern valleys 

 of the Altai range, extending from Samarkand and Dshungaria to the 

 Baikal district and Upper Amur, all of which agree rather with those 

 sent out by Staudinger as amurensis. 



Egglaying. — Our own observations, made on a $ laying at Cuxton, 

 led us to suppose that the terminal leaves of Lotus corniculatus were 

 usually chosen, and Hellins observes that the axil of the leaf is the 

 spot generally selected. Bird writes (in litt.) that, on June 11th, 

 1906, be watched a 2 egglaying ; and that, in selecting the plants of 

 Lotus corniculatus on which to oviposit, she was not in any way aided 

 by the blossom, but seemed to pass over all the well-grown Lotus 

 where the blossom was, and chose plants where the herbage had been 

 cropped quite short by cattle. The egg was laid well in the crown of 

 a young shoot at the base and on the upper surface of a leaflet. One 

 egg taken hatched on June 23rd, an egg-period of twelve days. Later, 

 on June 16th, 1907, the same observer noticed another ? at Tintern, 

 on a lawn, lay an egg in the interstices of a budding flower-head of 

 Trifolium repens. Chapman observes (in litt.) that eggs laid on 

 June 10th, 1907, hatched on June 20th, giving an egg-period of ten 

 days. Wood notes (in litt.) that a $ , in confinement, laid 23 ova 

 between August 2nd- 4th, 1905 ; these were usually deposited singly 

 (but in one case up to six in a group) on the upperside of the leaves 

 of Dutch clover. Newman notes (Ent., iii., p. 15) that eggs he had 

 were laid on Ononis spinosa, and Clark records (Ent. Bee, xii., p. 282) 

 that an egg figured [op. n't., pi. xi., fig 6 (not 4 as stated)] was 

 laid on Ononis on June 13th, 1899. Prideaux mentions (in litt.) 

 that ova laid on June 18th, 1900, hatched on the 29th, giving a 

 period in the egg of eleven days, whilst Rehfous remarks (in litt.) 

 that, he observed two J s ovipositing on Medicayo lupulinus, one on 

 July 3rd, 1909, at Geneva, the other on August 7th, 1907, at Glanon- 

 sur-Saone. The eggs were laid singly, usually on leaves, more rarely 

 on the calyx sepals, so that of twenty eggs deposited, sixteen were 

 laid on leaves and four on the sepals; the eggs, of; the form of a 

 flattened sweetmeat box. watery-green directly after being laid, 

 rapidly become white, and the larvae hatched five or six days after- 



