Zoological Illustrations Series II/Plate 134



The passage from Polyommatus to the type now before us, is distinctly marked by the section (for under that rank we may still retain it), named Pithecops; the palpi of these latter being both hairy, like the typical Polyommatus, and squamose, as in Erina: the posterior wings of both are also much of the same shape. By these blended characters Nature gently glides into the form now under consideration, which is the satyrian or rasorial type of the genus; representing the Satyridæ, the Hipparchianæ, &c. and which supplies the place of Polyommatus, strictly so termed, on the Australian continent. We have already before us six species from that country; five of which are typical, but the sixth, the L. ignita of our friend Dr. Leach (Zool. Miss. I. pl. 60), demands particular attention. We have elsewhere shewn that all aberrant forms unite into a circle of their own. Now as Erina, Lucia, and Naïs, are the aberrant forms of the genus Polyommatus, so there should be species either in the first or the last,—that is, in Erina or Naïs, which would exemplify this theory in the present instance. We accordingly find it demonstrated by Erina ignita; for that insect, although essentially belonging to this type, in the characters of the palpi and antennæ, nevertheless assumes one of the great distinctions of Naïs.—-The wings of the two sexes being different: the posterior pair in the female are dentated, while those of the male are completely entire; so that the first might pass for a Naïs, and the second for an Erina; both sexes further shew the union of these two types, by having the under surface of their wings ornamented, as in Naïs, with silvery spots. Our figures, by the scale, are somewhat enlarged. We have sent a specimen of E. pulchella to the British Museum for general reference.