76 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



pairs, two are basal more delicate than the others, reaching entirely across the wing and slightly 

 inflected at the interior margin ; the two next arise parallel to each other from the costa, pass 

 regularly across the disk and have a sudden angular inflexion inwards at the anal region, the 

 two following are somewhat broader, of a more vivid tint and terminate abruptly at the anal 

 ocelli, the exterior one being somewhat abbreviated. The anal region is ornamented with three 

 black spots; the largest, in the posterior margin, without the caudal appendage, is oblong, of a 

 very intense tint, disposed in a very broad rufous-orange crescent indented along its inner 

 curve : within it is a transverse reniform mark, the interior portion of which is more deeply 

 coloured, supplied with an orange crescent, and placed in contact with a small blind ocellus at 

 the extreme anal angle : the intermediate ocellus has internally and the large one externally, a 

 few silvery irrorations disposed in a short line. The antennae are rather obscurely banded along 

 their internal surface, the body agrees above in colour with the wings and the abdomen is 

 laterally banded. 



11. LyCjENA Elpis. Alee supra diluti azureae, foeminae limbo latissimo nigro, posticarum strigis 

 tribus fuscis intermedid maculari : subtus canescenti-fuscce albo strigosce, strigis tribus mar- 

 gini postico parallelis ; anticae irsuper strigis quatuor mediis in paribus duobus, interiore 

 continuo intervallo brevi ab margine exteriore incipiente, arcuato-angulato ad marginem inte- 

 riorem ducto, pari exteriore ex lineolis interruptis efformato, costam attingente, dimidiato, 

 in disco imparl terminato ; ocelli anales tres, posteriore maxima iride latissimd trifidd, postici 

 tcenid argenteo irroratd, intermedio transverso oblongo-reniformi lobo exteriore obscuro altero 

 saturato, ocello interiore parvo punctulari scepius plied atari recondite. (Exp. alar. 1 unc. 2 

 —8 lin.) 



Plate 1, fig. 4. 

 Polyommatus Elpis. Latr. and Godt. Enc. Meth. Hist. Nat. ix. 654. 



Wings above, in the male, pale azure with a silvery somewhat lactescent gloss ; anterior wings with 

 a narrow blackish-brown posterior margin ; hinder wings with a broader border of the same 

 colour, consisting of three parallel strigae, one exterior narrow and continued ; the second 

 intermediate, composed of a series of oblong spots more intensely coloured towards the anal 

 angle ; the third and interior one broad, waving and evanescent : in the female the azure tint is 

 somewhat diluted ; the anterior wings have a very broad dark brown posterior border, stretching 

 obliquely to the middle of the costa, in the posterior wings the border has a blackish tint, and 

 the oblong spots of the intermediate series are encircled with white. Underneath the surface of 

 both wings is grayish-brown, and in well preserved individuals the tint is deeper, and a rich 

 silvery reflexion is spread over it; the anterior wings have seven, and the posterior ones nine 

 white strigae, three of which are marginal and agree with those of the two former species; on 

 the medial and submarginal portion of the anterior wings, are four white striga; arranged in 

 two pairs ; the strigae of the interior pair are continued, they arise, parallel to each other at a 

 small distance from the costa, pass in a somewhat angular curve across the disk, and come in 

 contact with the interior margin near the inner one of the marginal strigae : the next pair con- 

 sists of interrupted short linear fragments, arises from the costa, having near its point of con- 

 tact two or three small lateral dots, stretches half across the wing, and is terminated on the 

 disk by a short lineola, disposed intermediately between the two or along the interior striga. 



The 



