BUTTERFLIES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 133 



the fore wings are smaller and therefore more isolated. The inner 

 spot in the cell on the fore wings is much smaller than the outer, 

 the difference between the two being greater than in summer speci- 

 mens. The small tooth, or sometimes very short hairlike tail, near 

 the anal angle of the hind wings, which is seen in summer specimens, 

 is only faintly indicated. 



Remarks. — Early in July, 1928, this butterfly was unusually com- 

 mon at Silver Spring and was to be found scattered all about the 

 fields in the vicinity of the hayrick mentioned above. As many as 

 15 or 20 could be captured in a single afternoon. In the last half 

 of June, 1929, it was abundant in a dry pasture near the agricultural 

 experiment station at Beltsville and unusually common at Cabin 

 John. 



The common copper has an enormous range. It is found from 

 Nova Scotia and Cape Breton to James Bay, Alberta, and British 

 Columbia, and from Japan and Amurland to Scandinavia and 

 England; southward it extends to Georgia and Texas, northern 

 India, the oases of the Sahara, and the Canary Islands. It is geo- 

 graphically and also seasonally variable, least so in America and most 

 so in southern and eastern Asia. An extraordinary number of aber- 

 rations have been described, but none of these are known from the 

 District. 



Genus EVERES Hubner 



EVERES COMYNTAS COMYNTAS (Godart) 



Tailed Blue 



Plate 22, Figures 5, 6 



Lycaena comyintas Mablatt, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, vol. 1, no. 4, p. 206, 

 1890. 



Occurrence. — Very abundant — one of the most abundant butter- 

 flies in the District. 



The tailed blue is found everywhere in open country, being most 

 numerous in weedy pasture land with an abundant growth of asters. 



Hahits. — The tailed blue has a rather nervous, somewhat skipping 

 flight suggesting that of the least skipper {Ancyloxypha numitm') 

 though more hurried, but the males sometimes and the females usu- 

 ally fly at a constant level of from 4 to 6 inches above the ground, 

 dodging irregularly among the grass blades but always maintaining 

 the same general direction. The flight is never long, and the but- 

 terfly soon alights, usually on the upper surface of a horizontal leaf. 

 On alighting the butterfly holds the wings parallel to each other 

 above the back, or very slightly divergent, and moves the hind 



