GHRYSOPHANIDI. 825 



The variation of the Chrysophanid imagines is most interesting, 

 particularly that phase in which the $ s take on a lovely purple gloss, 

 as in Loweia alciphron and Chrysophanus hippothoe. But another form 

 of variation in the Chrysophanids has attracted still greater attention. 

 It is what may be termed the suffusion of the ground-colour of the 

 wings, and is well-illustrated . in the southern forms of Rumicia 

 phlaeas. In central Europe the $ s and $ s of this species are of a 

 rich golden colour, in all the broods, with a tendency for the $ s to 

 become suffused in occasional examples of the summer brood ; in the 

 north, the ground colour of both sexes is paler and brighter, with no 

 tendency to suffusion, whilst, in the south of Europe, the $ s are 

 mostly suffused in the summer broods, some of them being practically 

 black. In central Europe again, the $ s of Chrysophanus hippothoe are 

 of a rich golden-copper; in the subalpine regions the <^s are tinged 

 with purple, and the $ s are brown, with hardty a trace of the copper 

 ground-colour ; in Scandinavia the £ s may be (often are) of almost as 

 rich a copper tint as the $ s. In Loweia dorilis, on the other hand, in 

 central Europe, both $ s and $ s are almost uniformly black-brown, with 

 hardly a sign of copper tint ; in the southern parts of Europe, with 

 little or no change in the $ s, the $ s are sometimes of a brilliant 

 copper, i.e., exactly the converse of C. hippothoe and R. phlaeas, which 

 get darker with increased temperature. Still more puzzling is Loweia 

 alciphron, which, in the hot valleys of south-eastern Europe, produces 

 ^s so suffused with violet, and $ s so suffused with brown, that the 

 ground-colour and markings entirely disappear, in both sexes, on the 

 upperside, although, in the hot valleys of south-western Europe, they 

 become gloriously brilliant golden-copper, with strongly-marked rows 

 of black spots in both sexes, and form the var. gordius, the ? of which 

 even surpasses that of 0. dispar in brilliancy, whilst in the hot valleys 

 of western Italy the race maintains its gordius brilliancy of ground- 

 colour, but the basal areas of the hindwings become black, in some 

 senses, forming an intermediate stage between the south-eastern and 

 south-western forms, although possibly an entirely separate specialised 

 development of the var. gordius. 



The sexual dimorphism of the Chrysophanids is practically as 

 marked as in the " blues," but there appears to be an entire absence 

 of specialised androconia. The sexual differences appear to consist of 

 —(1) The difference in the coloration and markings of the wings. 

 (2) The difference in their shape and contour. As a rule, the $ s have 

 unicolorous golden wings, with black margin ; the $ s have golden 

 wings, with transverse rows of black spots, in some species, however, 

 becoming entirely black-brown, with the exception of the marginal 

 band, in a few, indeed, becoming wholly black-brown, the copper or golden 

 colour being quite obsolete. In Heodes virgaureae and H. ottomanus, the 

 golden £ rarely has a discoidal lunule, and the 2 is usually paler in tint, 

 with a transverse row of dots, discoidal spot, a browner-black margin, etc. 

 In Chrysophanus thersamon, C. dispar, and C. hippothoe, the $ has a 

 discoidal lunule, the hindwings tend to be shaded, and the markings of 

 the underside make a good attempt to show through on the upperside 

 of the wing ; the $ , too, tends to get a purple gloss at higher eleva- 

 tions. In Loweia alciphron, L. dorilis, and L. subalpina, the $ is, in 

 all the typical forms, suffused entirely with purple and blackish -brown,, 

 whilst the $ is more usually tinged with the characteristic copper of 



