CELASTRINA ARGI0LUS. 419 



k. ab. nigra, Edw., "Butts. N. Amer.," ii., Lye. pi. ii., fig. 7, pp. 4, 5 

 (1884); Scudd., "Butts. New Engl.," ii., pp. 928, 929, 944 (1889).— Violacea 

 var., Edw., "Butts. N. Amer.," i., pi. xlix., fig. 4, p. 149 (1868-72) ; "Pap.," 

 in., p. 86 (1883). — At about 89° N. lat., on the Atlantic side, two of the forms of 

 the first generation are found to have been suppressed, viz., lucia and marginata, 

 and the third alone, violacea, remains to represent that generation ; but it 

 is somewhat altered, the blue colour having become darker, and the under-surface 

 purer white ; whilst it has developed an entirely new form of its own, restricted to 

 one sex, viz., the black male (pi. ii., fig. 7). This was figured in vol. i as female. 

 On its discovery in 1867, I took it to be 2 without question, as melanism in 

 butterflies, when confined to one sex, is almost invariably found in the ? . . . . 

 In 1878 I was led to make an examination of the genital organs of one of these 

 black examples and found .it to be S . Since then I have made very many 

 examinations in successive years, and have not seen a melanic ? . In 40° N. 

 lat., at the west, in Colorado, however, the original forms, lucia and violacea, 

 are found, and, notwithstanding the high elevation, the latter discovers the 

 melanic <$..-. The form violacea-nigra is not known to have been taken to 

 the north of Coalburgh, West Virginia, nor in Ohio or Illinois ; but it flies in 

 Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, as well as in Southern Colorado 

 (Edwards). 



This male aberration was first noted by Edwards (Butts. Nth. Amer. 

 i., p. 149), and described as a female having " the upperside uniform 

 blackish-brown, underside like the male violacea.'" It must be very 

 abundant compared with the real females, for Edwards adds that 

 "most of the females (!) are of the black var.; out of nearly 100 

 taken in 1867, only five were blue," i.e., that 95 black males were 

 taken against five $ s (and neglecting the numberless blue $ s); he notes 

 the blue $ as "occurring in swarms along the sandy side of the 

 creeks, standing in favourite spots motionless, with wings erect and 

 closed, wholly intent on extracting from the sand some fluid no 

 doubt delightful." Scudder observes (Butts, of New Engl., ii., p. 944), 

 that, at 38° N. lat. or 39° N. lat., the males of the first generation 

 appear under two guises, one blue above, the normal violacea, the 

 other dark brown, nigra, and this apparently continues as far towards 

 the Gulf of Mexico as the species extends. 



X. var. cmere a, Edw., "Pap.," iii., p. 8 (1883); "Butts. Nth. Amer.," ii., 

 Lye. pi. ii., figs. 16-17, p. 5 (1884) ; Scudder, "Butts. New Engl.," p. 945 (1889) ; 

 Dyar, "List Nth. Am. Lep.," p. 45 (1902). — L. pseudargiolus is a delicate and 

 small species, found from the boreal regions to Mexico, in one phase or other, 

 being polymorphic, but it is not a stranger like Thecla laeta, seen here and there 

 occasionally. It possesses the whole country, and where found is abundant. 

 Morrison sends (from Arizona) examples of both sexes of the form pseudargiolus, 

 and also of the winter form violacea, but these last differ from any I have seen in 

 having the underside dark grey. I call this form var. cinerea (Edwards). 



Of these examples, Edwards later notes (Butts. Nth. Amer., ii., Lye. 

 pp. 5, 10) : " In Arizona, at about 33° N. lat., violacea alone appears in 

 the spring, but in a modified form cinerea (op. cit., Lye. pi. ii., figs. 16-17); 

 ... so that cinerea appears to be the Arizona winter form, the under- 

 side ash-grey, all the markings obscure. Of these, Morrison brought 

 many examples in 1882, from Mount Graham, at considerable eleva- 

 tion. With them, he brought others, nearly fullsized pseudargiolus 

 (op. cit., figs. 18-19), but of a deeper blue than is usual in the east; 

 the underside is not pure white, but slightly grey." It is quite clear 

 that these latter form quite a normal summer brood of Palaearctic 

 types, and altogether different from the neglecta-looking examples, 

 which Edwards also figures (op. cit., pi. ii., figs. 8-9) under one name 

 pseud 'argiolus. Edwards himself later observed this, and named the 

 form arizonensis (op. cit., app. no. 432). 



