LYCAENA ARION. 31 t 



variis, subtus anticae fusco-cinereae, punctis ordinariis nigris ; posticae cyaneo- 

 aeruginosae margine externo cinereo, punctis ordinariis nigris. s . 



On the upper side this butterfly scarcely differs from strongly blue coloured 

 males of L. avion except that the white fringes are chequered with black, and the 

 size is also similar. On the upper side the wings are the same blue colour as in 

 arion j , but the black border is rather narrower than in the latter, the spots on the 

 underside are mostly visible above, and are as large and oval as in avion, first a 

 single spot near the base, then the usual central spot or lunule, and then the waved 

 row of black spots; the two rows of spots on the underside near the hind margin 

 are wanting on the upperside because the margin is there black. The hindwings 

 on the upper side are similar to the forewings, blue, with a black border, and a 

 black central lunule, but only a few spots of the curved row are visible. The fringes 

 of all the wings are white, and are less extensively chequered with black. On the 

 underside the forewings are also like L. avion, and the spots or dots are the same, 

 only their shape is different, in arion they are round or oval, but here cap-shaped, 

 or like a half oval. The principal difference of this butterfly is to be found on the 

 underside of the hindwings ; these are verdigris-green from the base almost to the 

 hindmargin shading into Prussian blue ; only the outer margin between the two 

 last rows of spots is grey. The black spots are small, and have the same position 

 as in avion. 



The butterfly flies in Eastern Siberia in the neighbourhood of Kiachta. The 

 female is unknown to me. (Eversmann.) 



This colouring of the underside hindwings forms the distinctive 

 character of the Eastern races. As more examples of cyanecula have 

 come to hand, it has gradually appeared that almost every kind of 

 aberration known in the different European forms of arion is also to 

 be found in cyanecula. The most remarkable divergence, however, is 

 in the shape of the wings, which, in some districts are long and narrow, 

 giving the insects a very distinctive appearance. Graeser, indeed, took 

 three specimens at Pokrofka of which he wrote (Bed. Ent. ZeiU., p. 81, 

 1888) : — "It is absolutely impossible for me to make up my mind to 

 class this remarkable insect as a var. of arion, L. ; so far as the mark- 

 ing and colouring is concerned, my specimens show great correspond- 

 ence with the drawings of Herrich-Schaffer (593, 4) but the shape of 

 the wings is totally different from these figures. The wings are very 

 long and narrow, the apex of the forewings coming very far forward ; 

 also the outer margin of the hindwings between nervures 4 and 6 is 

 much more drawn out into an angle than is the case with anon, w T hich 

 has the wings much broader and more rounded than these three 

 specimens from Pokrofka. The fringes in these latter are more regu- 

 larly chequered black and white than the almost unicolourous white 

 fringes of arion. The antennre in cyanecula are much darker and not 

 regularly mixed white and black as in arion; they are black and very 

 finely mixed with light brown." Staudinger, however, pointed out 

 (Itom. Mem. Lep. } vi., p. 115) that the form of the wings frequently 

 varies in specimens of the same variety from the same locality, and 

 that he had examples of cyanecula with wings both of the shape 

 described by Graeser, and of the ordinary shape of arion. Ha adds : — 

 " The only constant distinction of cyanecula consists in the almost 

 green-blue underside of the hindwings, and this likewise appears in 

 gradations, and I have no doubt that it is only a local form of arion." 



In the Brit. Mus. Coll. are examples with every degree of this blue- 

 green suffusion, from some in which it scarcely, if at all, exceeds that 

 displayed by some European specimens of arion, to others in which it 

 covers the whole wing up to the inner row of marginal spots. It is, 

 however, always of a greener and lighter blue than in European 

 examples. 



