ZIZERA. 



327 



acccntue qwe celiii du male. Cetto cspece appartient an mome groupe que L. hjshnon, 

 Hiibner. 



" Decrite sur six males ct une fcmelle." (Pot(jade, I. c.) 



I have specimens of this species from every locality I visited in Japan and 

 Corea, and also from each of the places in China that Messrs. Pratt and 

 KricheldorfF collected in; also a number of Indian examples from Sikkim. 

 With this large amount of material before me I am therefore able to realize 

 something of the extensive variation to which the species is subject, and 

 I have no hesitation whatever in placing L. argia, Menetries ; L. japonica, 

 Murray ; L. alope, Fenton ; L. opalina and L. marginata^ Poujade, as forms 

 of one species, i. e., Zizera [Lyccena) malm, Kollar. In this opinion I am 

 supported by Mr. de Niceville, who in his ' Butterflies of India ' (vol. iii. 

 p. 113), discussing the variation of Indian Z malm, says: — "There is very 

 little doubt in my mind that the ' Lijcmna ' argia, Menetries (of which 

 Z. japonica, Murray, and Z. alope, Fenton, are synonyms), which occurs in 

 China, Japan, and Corea, should be added to the synonymy of this species." 

 Mr. Elwes (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1888, p. 380) also holds this view, and 

 adds L. diluta, Felder, and L. shnilis, Moore, as synonyms. 



The type of L. japonica, Murray, is a female, and is said to differ from argia 

 in the absence of the marginal spots on the secondaries ; but as every gradation 

 is exhibited between specimens of Z. malm with the typical markings well 

 developed, and others in which the macular ornamentation of the outer margin 

 of secondaries is entirely absent, the distinction referred to by Murray is of 

 no specific value whatever. 



The principal diff"erential characters upon which Mr. Fenton separates his 

 aloj)e from argia, Menetries {=malm, Kollar), are (1) the deeper violet 

 colouring, (2) the broader border to primaries, (3) the absence of black spot 

 from cell on under surface of primaries. The colour of Z. malm is most 

 variable in intensity, and the width of the marginal border seems to vary in 

 proportion to the depth of the ground-colour. Then with regard to the black 

 spot in the cell on under surface of primaries, I find that this character is a 

 very variable one both in size and definition, and sometimes is altogether 

 absent. I have one specimen in which this spot is present on one wing and 

 absent from the other. 



The pale males Avith narrow borders are usually referred to var. japonica, 

 Avith Avhich opalinn, Poujade, is synonymous ; these appear in the spring and 



