LYCvENA. 
85 
exception ot a few blue scales at base, entirely brown. Beneath, both sexes are coloured and marked as in 
Lygdamus. Fringes white, both above and below. Common in California. 
*fAMicA, Edwards, Proc. Ent. Soc., Phil., Vol. II, p. 80, (1863); Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 36, (1872). 
Cupido Arnica, Kirby , Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 376, (1871). 
As I have no acquaintance with this Arctic species, which Mr. W. H. Edwards described from the male 
only, I here append his original description : 
“Male. Expands 1 1-10 inch. Upper side silvery-blue, brownish along the margins, with a narrow, straight discal mark on pri- 
maries; fringe white. Under side glossy greyish white; primaries have a narrow discal mark and a curved row of six minute black 
spots across the disk ; secondaries have a nearly straight row of five minute black spots, besides two on the costa, one of which is in the 
middle, the other near the base, all edged with white; there is also a sub-marginal row of points and small brown iunules, sometimes 
obsolete. From Mackenzie’s River, by Mrs. Ross.” 
* '('Maricopa, Reakirt, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc., Phila., p. 245, (1866). Edwards , Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 36, (1872). 
Cupido Maricopa, Kirby , Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 377, (1871). 
I do not know this species; when Mr. Reakirt’s types came into my possession, this was not among them, 
nor have I, to my knowledge, ever seen it. His description reads thus: 
“ Male. Upper side brown, glossed with violet blue; a narrow terminal dark line along the outer margins; a black discal bar on 
the primaries, sometimes wanting, and some obsolete rounded spots on the hind margin of the secondaries. Fringe ash-coloured. Under- 
neath ash-brown, darkest towards the base. Primaries: a large black discal bar, a sub-central, transverse, sinuated row of seven large 
rounded black spots all narrowly ringed with white; following these, and parallel with the margin, another series of seven indistinct 
spots. Secondaries: a discal bar and two spots, one within the cell, the other above it; three transverse maculate bands; the first com- 
posed of eight large rounded black spots, and bent twice at right angles, the second of smaller, and sagittiform, and in common with the 
third, which is almost marginal, and very indistinct, runs parallel with the border; all these markings are encircled with white, and the 
seventh spot of the first and second rows are sometimes confluent. Expanse 1.25-1.35 inches. Body black above, with some blueish 
hairs; beneath greyish; antennae black with white annulations, lower part of club whitish. Hab. — California.” 
*fMERTiLA, Edwards, Proc. Ent. Soc., Phila., Vol. VI, p. 206, (1866); Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 36, (1872). 
Cupido Mertila, Kirby, Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 377, (1871). 
It is almost with despair that I turn from one description to the other, always the same monotonous thing, 
the same stereotyped greyish under side, the same tedious “sinuous rows of spots/’ and the same everlasting 
this shape or that shaped discal bar, spot or mark. Oh ! that we could but throw oiit every description that is 
unaccompanied by a figure, how our labours would be lightened, how we would be spared the maledictions of 
alter generations for all time to come. With what boundless veneration do we look on the tomes of Cramer, 
Seba, Drury, Hubner, Hewitson, and Herrich— Schaeffer, no winding into countless useless descriptions in all 
sorts ol scattered periodicals, but a great massive work — grand, compact, solid, every description accompanied 
by coloured figures. I never open these mighty volumes but I feel my soul expand in Hallelujahs to the 
Almighty that through his great goodness such intellects were allowed to sojourn here and to bequeath to us 
the result of their vast labours. 
These thoughts were suggested by reading the description of the above cited species “ Mertila ” founded 
on a female example, and will apply to a host of other Lycsenidse equally as well as to this probably mythical 
one — and although I have not a particle of faith in half the species of this author, I now copy his description 
of Mertila and hope my friends and enemies will forgive me for inflicting it on them, and my God for wasting 
the time in so doing. 
“Female. Expands 1 1-10 inch. Primaries long and narrow; both wings brown, with slate-coloured hairs at base and along inner 
margin of primaries. Under side clear cineraceous ; bluish at base ; primaries have a single transverse sinuous row of round black spots, 
each circled with white, as also is the lunule in the arc; from the arc a whitish ray runs towards base. Secondaries have a row of eight 
small black spots in points, each circled with white ; of these, two are on central margin, four nearly parallel with the hind margin ; the 
seventh below the others and geminate; the eighth minute, nearly concealed in the marginal hairs; between the 2nd and 3rd and the 6th 
and 7th the spaces are wide ; on the arc a streak, and midway between this and the base a black point ; on the costa above this one slightly 
larger, all circled with white. From California. The male of this distinct *) species I have not seen.” 
*|Orcus, Edwards, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., p. 376, (1869); Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 37, (1872). 
Cupida Orcus, Kirby, Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 377, (1871). 
Described from a single male specimen from California. 
“Male. Expands 1.1 inch. Upper side pruinose blue, paler on costa of primaries; hind margins broadly fuscous ; fringes long, 
cinereous. Under side grey cinereous, bluish at base ; on arc of primaries a narrow black bar bent outwards, and faintly edged without 
hv white ; on secondaries a faint discal streak ; both wings have a sub-marginal line of points, scarcely discernable. Beneath thorax 
covered with blue, grey-hairs, abdomen grey ; palpi white above at base, black at tip, and cinereous below ; antennae black annulated with 
white ; club black, tipped with cinereous.” 
Pheres, Boisduval, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., p. 297, (1852). Edwards, Syn. N. Am. Butt., p. 36, (1872). 
Polyommatus Pheres, Morris, Cat. Lep. N. Am., p. 12, (i860); Syn. Lep. N. Am., p. 89, (1862). 
Cupido Pheres, Kirby, Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 362, (1871). 
* I These italics are mine. 
