ARICIA MEDON. 257 



which leave it somewhat uncertain whether a similar specimen had not 

 previously been taken in the same place. 



y. ab. albosignata, n. ab. — When the black spots external to the orange-red 

 band are present, a white line sometimes occurs between these and the edge of the 

 wings. 



This is the aberration of which Harrison's ab. albimaculata is a 

 particular case. Traces of it are very frequently to be seens with a 

 lens, and are often visible to the naked eye. In extreme cases they 

 are very conspicuous and give a very special facies. They may occur 

 along the border of both wings, and occasionally do so in British 

 examples, but are more commonly confined to the hindwing and the 

 anal angle of the forewing (Hodgson). In the Brit. Mus. coll. are 

 three very conspicuous examples from Turkestan, but these have no 

 white on the forewing. It occurs very rarely in var. nazira, though 

 the black spots are well developed, but is commoner in those forms in 

 which the orange-red band is broad. In var. cramera we have only 

 seen it in the $ s, but in Greek specimens of var. ornata it is more 

 pronounced in the ? s. In this form it is specially common, and we 

 have seen it in specimens from Sicily, Morocco, Asia Minor and Syria, 

 equally in both sexes from the latter ; it also appears in specimens of 

 var. calida from Asia Minor, and of var. (jallica from Brittany. 



Underside Aberrations. 



a. ab. albicans, Auriv., " Nord. Fjar.," p. 13 (1888) ; Seitz, " Gr.-Schmett.," 

 p. 309 (1909); Courv., "Ent. Zeits.," xxiv., p. 126 (1910).— Wings beneath 

 almost white, and so light that the discoidal spot on the hindwings and the white 

 dash in cells 3 and 4 cannot be distinguished from the ground-colour. Eye-spots 

 absent, or small and without rings. Found in Helsingland (Aurivillius). 



This form is very near ab. vedrae, Harr., but in the latter the 

 ground-colour on the underside is darker than usual instead of lighter. 

 Klemensiewicz mentions a similar specimen taken near Lemburg, with 

 very reduced yellow marginal spots and almost white underside, with 

 only a few tiny eye-spots visible. Courvoisier states that he possesses 

 examples of ab. albicans from Rome, the Tyrol, Odessa, and Amasia. 

 He is singularly fortunate, we have never yet come across a specimen, 

 and there is none in the Brit. Mus. coll. 



The extreme form, in which the eye-spots are absent, had been 

 separately described as : — 



p. ab. deleta, Ckll., "Ent.," xxii., p. 99 (1889). Agestis var., Weston, 

 " Ent.," xii., p. 185, fig. 1 (1879) ; Mosl., " 111. Brit. Lep.,'' pt. 7, pi. ii., fig. 5 

 (1880). Albicans, Auriv., "Nord. Fjar.," p. 13 [in part] (1888).— The extra- 

 ordinary variety figured above as No. 1, is from my collection, and was captured 

 by me last season. The ground colour of the underside of all four wings is of a 

 pearly white colour, while the row of red spots along the margins of the wings is 

 very bright and distinct. Except the central spot of each front wing, and two 

 otbers near the upper margin of the lower wings, the normal black spots are 

 entirely absent (Weston). 



Cockerell's name deleta was given with reference to the figure 

 illustrating Weston's description; Mosley's illustration was taken from 

 the same specimen. It would seem to be a scarce form, and is hitherto 

 only reported from England and Scandinavia. 



y. ab. impunctata, Obth., " Feuille Jeunes Nat.," 4th ser., i., p. 17, pi. iv., 

 fig. 18 (1900) ; " Lep. Comp.," iv., p. 253 (1910). Vedrae, Harr., " Ent. Rec," 

 xvii., p. 281 [in part] (1905). Caeca, Blach., "Bull. Soc. Lep. Gen.," ii., p. 54, 

 pi. i., fig. 13 (1910). — The flax-grey ground of the underside is entirely without 

 the usual black spots (Oberthiir). 



