LYCAENA ARION. 319 



scaling remaining to give the effect of very dark blue ground colour, 

 the black border of the hindwings, and often some of the spots 

 remaining visible. 



(e) var. delphinatus, Friibst., " Ent. Zeits.," xxiv., p. 144 (1910). — $ very 

 small, not; reaching the smallest of my 34 alpine obscura. Upperside altogether 

 recalling alcon rather than examples from Savoy or Hungary. Also without the 

 heavy black spotting of obscura. Underside to correspond, and darker grey than 

 in obscura, with remarkably small spots, again inclining to alcon. A distinct race, 

 the like appears to come from Digne (Friihstorfer). 



Loc, between La Grave and the Col de Lautaret. 



This is another of Friihstorfer's so-called sub-species, founded on 

 4 $ s taken by him in July, 1910 ; Oberthiir, however, so far supports 

 the view that it is dominant at the Col de Lautaret as to remark 

 (Lep. Com., iv., p. 326) on the small size and dark colouring of 

 specimens from this locality. Small specimens occur at Digne, but 

 they are often light, and very large ones occur there also. They are 

 reported by Rowland-Brown as varying greatly both in size and colour 

 from this locality. Delphinatus is, in fact, a very small obsolete!} 7 

 spotted form of obscura, which is, however, by no means always 

 heavily spotted in the Swiss Alps, and many Alpine specimens of 

 which have considerably darker undersides than any specimens we 

 have seen from le Lautaret. 



Dwarf Form. 



ab. occidentalis, le Chamb., "Ent.," xli., p. 202 (1908). — Aberration of <$ 

 and ° . Very dwarf undersized specimens, some not larger than L. aegon. Of 

 fairly frequent occurrence (le Chamberlain). 



The frequency of the occurrence of these dwarf specimens on the 

 Cotswolds has already been referred to (p. 306). These very small 

 specimens are not, however, confined to this locality, but occur also in 

 Switzerland and elsewhere ; on the Col de Lautaret they seem to be 

 almost racial (var. delphinatus), in this latter case they are also dark, 

 as is usual with mountain specimens. 



Aberrations of Upper and Undersides. 



(a) ab. punctatisima, n. ab. Arion ab., Aign., "Ann. Mus. Nat. Hung.," 

 iv., p. 517 (1906). — In the Treitschke coll. is a 2 , expanding 40mm., the upperside 

 extraordinarily richly marked. On the forewings the 6 spots on the disc very 

 strongly developed, very much elongated, in the central cell 2 black spots and one 

 towards the inner margin ; the semilunar spots on the hindwings distinct, a row 

 of four rather large spots on the disc. On the underside of the forewings the spots 

 on the disc, the inner and outer marginal spots, as well as the 2 spots in the 

 central cell strongly developed, only the spots on the inner margin much reduced ; 

 on the hindwings all the spots strongly developed (Aigner-Abafi). 



This specimen, described but not named by Aigner-Abafi, gives 

 the extreme form of spotting both on the upper and underside. 

 Similar specimens occasionally occur, and others, almost similar, but 

 lacking in one particular or another, are fairly frequent, especially 

 among the southern and eastern races. 



(/3) ab. arthurus, Melvill, " Ent. Mo. Mag.,"ix., p. 263 (1873) ; Staud., " Ent. 

 Mo. Mag.," ix., p. 290 (1873) ; (?) Lamb., "Pap. Belg.," p. 254 (1902).— <? Alae 

 supra violaceae, subtus cinereo-fuscae, ab L. arione differentes ocellis omnibus 

 absentibus, iis circa marginem exteriorem exceptis, nigris, maculis quoque dis- 

 cocellularibus bene utrinque definitis ; corpus caeruleo albescens. Hab. Chamonix ; 

 one example captured June 28th, 1872. Expanse of wings about 1" by 4". The 

 wings are violet-blue, with rather broad blackish hind-margins. The underwings 



