The N. American Species of the genus Lycaena. 
I can find no sufficient grounds for retaining the genus Chrysophanus or Polyommatus for the copper- 
coloured species, as there really seems to be*, in the Lycsenidse of this country and Europe, no particular 
characteristics that are sufficiently constant to separate the red and the blue species into different genera. 
The colour and ornamentation amounts to but little; in some species the males are blue and the females 
red or brown, as in Scepiolus and Heteronea ; in others both sexes are brown, as Agestis* Eurypilus ,f etc., or, 
again, both are blue, as Lucia, Argiolus,X and many others; and Heteronea, though the male is blue, is cer- 
tainly much nearer to the copper-coloured Sirius and Gorgon than it is to such other blue species as Lucia, 
Lygdamus or Comyntas. 
Neither is the presence or absence of a tail to the secondaries of the least moment, as these appendages are 
found in some of the. fiery-coloured species as well as in many of the blue ones; as instances of the former, I 
would mention Arota, Virginiensis and Lampon,§ and of the latter, Comyntas, Tejua, Balkanica || and Theo- 
phrastus.^ In some species the spring brood is tailless, whilst the summer generation of the same insect is 
provided with those ornaments. 
In good truth I cannot see why all the N, American and European species, except the few contained in 
Eumaeus, Hub., should not be embraced within one genera, even including the Theclas, for on examination of 
these latter we find the same diversity of form and colour as in the others, some tailed, others destitute of those 
appurtenances, some brown, others blue, etc. ; between Arota or Virginiensis and Niphon ** there is certainly 
no more difference than between Niphon and Melinus ff or between Melinus and Grunus.\X 
Lederer retained the two groups, Polyommatus and Lyccena, but arranged under the former the fiery or 
copper-coloured species, and such blue ones as Optilete,§§ Aegon , |||| Battus^N and 1° the latter the Theclas and 
such other blue or brown ones as Co?'ydon,*** Damon , ftt Telicanus,XXX etc. 
Hubner divided them into many groups or genera, not always placing the most closely allied together ; 
for whilst he has his genus Eumaeus, (containing E. Minyas,§§§ ) placed in the same sub-family and immedi- 
ately preceding Nomiades, which contains Damon, A/sus,|||||| and allies, he has, not very felicitously, placed be- 
tween this and Chrysophanus (copper species) not only nine genera, but has even put the latter in another sub- 
family. 
At a time when comparatively few species were known, there might have appeared plausible grounds for 
separating the red from the blue species, but since the many later perplexing and curious intermediate forms 
have been discovered in Asia Minor, Persia and California, the frail foundation on which the distinction was 
founded has not been equal to the task of sustaining it ; and the Lycaena, like the great genus Papilio, will 
not bear disruption without violence. 
I subjoin a list of all the described species of N. America. 
Those that are unknown to me in nature are prefixed with a f. 
Those that are wanting to my collection are designated by a *. 
Such as I possess the author’s original types of, are denoted by a J. 
The numbers over some species are the numbers attached to the figures of same species on plate X, thus 
“29 cT, 30 9, Sirius, Edwards.” 
To such as I have figured I have added no descriptions, as whether there be figures or not, the descriptions 
of such things are little better than waste of time, although to such as I have no other knowledge of I have 
quoted the author’s diagnosis in full. 
* Lycaena Agestis, Hubner, ( Papilio A.) Eur. Sclimett. I, f. 303-305, (1798-1803). 
f Lycaena Eurypilus, Freyer, Neuere Beitrage, VI, t. 573, f. 4, (1852). 
X Lycaena Argiolus, Lin., ( Papilio A.) Fauna Sveeica, p. 284, (1761). 
I Lycaena Lampon, Lederer, ( Polyommatus L.) Hor. Soc. Ent. Ross, VIII, p. 8, t. 1, (1870). 
|| Lycaena Balkanica, Freyer, Neuere Beitrage, V, t. 421, (1844). 
f Lycaena Theophrastus, Fabricius, [Hesperia T .) Ent. Sys. Ill, 1, p. 281, (1793). 
** Thecla Niphon, Hubner, [Licus N.) Zutr. Ex. Schmett., f. 203, 204, (1823). 
ft Thecla Melinus, Hubner, (Strymones M.) Zutr. Ex. Schmett,, f. 121, 122, (1818). 
jj Thecla Grunus, Boisduval, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., p. 289, (1852). 
II Lycaena Optilete, Knock, (Papilio O.) Beit. Ins. Ges. I., p. 76, t. 5, (1781). 
1111 Lycaena Aegon, Schiffermiller & Dennis, ( Papilio A.) Wien. Verz. p. 185, (1776). 
jf If Lycaena Battus, ( Papilio B.) Sehiff. Wien. Verz. p. 185,' (1776). 
*** Lycaena Corydon, Poda, ( Papilio G.) Musei Graecensis, p. 77, (1761). 
fti Lycaena Damon, Sehiff., (Papilio D.) Wien. Verz., p. 182, (1776). 
itt Lycaena Telicanus, Lang, ( Papilio T.) Verzeichniss Schmett. p. 47, (1789). 
III Eumaeus Minyas, Hubner, ( Busticus Adolescens M.) Samml. Exot. Schmett., (1806-1816). 
IIIHI Lycaena Alsus, Sehiff, (Papilio A.) Wien. Verz. p. 184, (1776). 
81 
