  The spectra of the Schr\"odinger operators with periodic potentials are
studied. When the potential is real and periodic, the spectrum consists of at
most countably many line segments (energy bands) on the real line, while when
the potential is complex and periodic, the spectrum consists of at most
countably many analytic arcs in the complex plane.
  In some recent papers, such operators with complex $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric
periodic potentials are studied. In particular, the authors argued that some
energy bands would appear and disappear under perturbations. Here, we show that
appearance and disappearance of such energy bands imply existence of nonreal
spectra. This is a consequence of a more general result, describing the local
shape of the spectrum.
