282 H. STEMPFFER 



In my view, all these tribes merit to rank as equal subfamilies. The Lampidini 

 occur throughout the Ethiopian and Indo-Malaysian regions and even reach the 

 Neotropical region, but very few penetrate into the holarctic zone. It is probably a 

 very ancient subfamily, for the male genitalia exhibit wide variety. When the 

 Lycaenid fauna of the tropics is fully known, I expect it will prove necessary to divide 

 the group into several subfamilies. The Everinae are mainly holarctic and include 

 only a few genera with relatively little differences in their male genitalia. The 

 Plebejinae are certainly a recent subfamily of Angarian origin. They account for 

 the great bulk of the holarctic " Blues ", only two genera, Freyeria and Chilades 

 having penetrated the tropics of the Old World. The male genitalia throughout the 

 Plebejinae are of a very uniform pattern, with the uncus divided into two more or 

 less subtriangular lobes, and curved subunci. The Zizeeriinae are a primitive sub- 

 family with a very wide distribution in spite of the small number of species. 



Their male genitalia often exhibit archaic characters. The subfamily Plebejinae 

 as conceived by Clench appears to me to be decidedly heterogeneous. 



I will conclude by repeating that I make no claim to a monopoly of the truth, on 

 the contrary, I have been at pains to show how precarious some of my conclusions 

 seem to be, and I am naturally glad to change my opinions in favour of others that 

 would seem better justified. But I should be lacking in scientific honesty if I failed 

 to indicate, however briefly, my reasons for retaining provisionally the system of 

 classification which I first elaborated some twenty years ago. 



