CELASTRINA. 383 



American pseud argiol us, the Central American gozora, the Indian coeles- 

 tina, sikkium, victoria, and huegelii, the Japanese ladonides, the Corean 

 levettii, etc., are all one widely-distributed species, although varying 

 more in their facies than do some of the allied species, with entirely 

 different genitalia structurally, from typical argiolus. [This point is 

 dealt with at length in our consideration of the "Variation" of 

 Celastrina argiolus (postea, pp. 390-1).] The possibility of the various 

 Indian forms mimicking other Celastrinid species, and, in one case, 

 that of victoria, Swm., a non- Celastrinid species, is very great. 



Of the general uniformity of the Celastrinid type, Bethune-Baker 

 writes (in. litt.) : " The tribe Celastrinid i is a very homogeneous one, 

 unusually so considering the number of species and its very wide 

 distribution, for it obtains, outside the Arctic circle, all over the world 

 except in the Neotropical Region. It is difficult to divide the tribe 

 into sections, for the general characters and pattern of the Celastrinid 

 specific type are carried through its various species with a constancy 

 not often met with. In India are to be found some twenty species or 

 so of more or less specific value, and here it is that the group has 

 developed more, perhaps, than elsewhere, for it has one or two almost 

 white species in both sexes, whilst, in the other extreme, it has produced 

 a considerable number with brilliant, lustrous blue, uppersides. The 

 most remarkable species, however, is, perhaps, C. vardhana, Moore, a 

 large bluish-grey insect, with a paucity of underside markings, those 

 of the primaries being quite peculiar. It stands isolated and unique 

 among the rest of its family. In the Papuan- Australian sub-region 

 there are one or two more distinct, but still slight, sections, e.g., C. 

 camena, de N., sonchus, Druce, and planta, Druce, all from Borneo, have 

 developed a cream-coloured underside, and might be recognised at once 

 by this. In New Guinea there are one or two quite peculiar species. 

 C. acesina, B.-B., has an underside an almost exact counterpart of the 

 " acesina " section of the genus Arhopala, and it stands separated thus 

 from all others, and here it has developed a very pretty pale chocolate- 

 marked underside, quite different, however, from the darker brown, 

 and heavily-marked, forms obtaining in India and also in North 

 America. It is a peculiar fact that, in these two far-separated 

 countries, with such different conditions, we should find a similar type 

 of heavily-marked undersides. In Australia there are but two or three 

 species, and in Africa the tribe is as poorly represented, with no special 

 developments in either case. As to the American species, I have no 

 doubt that C. pseudargiolus is only a form of C. argiolus, the genitalia 

 being identical. There are no special developments in the Nearctic 

 region." 



The Celastrinid egg is of very pronounced Plebeiid type, that of 

 C. argiolus being very similar to that of Plebeius aegon, etc., as may be 

 seen by comparison of these and many other allied species (Practical 

 Hints, pi. hi., figs. 2-8). Chapman says (in litt.) that it is remarkable 

 in having the most regular arrangement of pillars, ribs, and cells, of 

 any Lycasnine egg examined. The cells are triangles placed so that, 

 in groups of six, they form hexagons, and the latter rather than th3 

 former strike the eye. They have, of course, to accommodate them- 

 selves in places to the curvature of the shell. Most LycaBnine eggs 

 have an engine-turned pattern, giving many quadrangular cells, but 

 with the regularity much disturbed (by curvature of shell, etc.). 



