EEV. C, 11. PERKIIfS — BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 73 



catch, but by waiting in some portion of the wood wbicb has been 

 lately cut down, near some taller oaks from which it will occasion- 

 ally descend, you will seldom have to go away unrewarded. Thecla 

 Euli, the green hairstreak, is the commonest of all this class. It 

 is of a brown colour inclining to olive on the upper side and a rich 

 green beneath. This you should not fail to find on the outskirts of 

 Bricket Wood at the end of May, though from its colour resembling 

 the foliage on which it settles it often escapes observation. Ccbho- 

 nympJia Plilceas, the small copper, next on the list, is very common 

 here. Look on any rough piece of ground (an unused quarry, where 

 wild flowers are suffered to grow unmolested, is a very favourite 

 place for this and many of this family), and you can scarcely fail 

 to find it. The more open paths through Bricket Wood will supply 

 your collection any bright, sun shining clay in August. CcBuonymplm 

 dispar, the large copper, seems to be no longer known in the 

 British Isles, though still retained on the list. A lady friend of 

 mine has a goodly number, which her son (now dead) caught in 

 Cambridgeshire some 40 years ago, and with the exception of this 

 gentleman I know of no other I have spoken with who has seen 

 this insect flying. The latest capture I have seen recorded was 

 in the county of Huntingdon about 30 years ago. Ccenonijmpha 

 Chryseis is the next, of which I shall only say that much doubt 

 exists whether it should be reputed a British insect at all. 



We will pass on, therefore, to the sub-family of blues. Polyom- 

 matus Aryiolus, the azure blue, feeds in the caterpillar state upon 

 blossoms of holly, and if the number of insects was at all pro- 

 portionate to the quantity of its food, this insect should be far 

 more common here than in Gloucestershire, where I used to see it 

 in great numbers early and late every season ; but here I have but 

 seldom met with it. Laurel I have found to be its favourite 

 resting-place, and I suspect the larva often feeds on the blossoms 

 of this shrub. The female is distinguished by a broad black 

 band on the margin of the fore-wings. Poh/ommalus Alsus, the 

 Bedford blue, is our smallest butterfly, ancl only faintly shows 

 blue over its dull brown dress. I think it is an insect more 

 common than collectors give it credit for, but it is decidedly local 

 and not very quickly observed. I have found it in sheltered 

 places on the Oolite in Gloucestershire in the month of June, 

 settling more often on brambles than on anything else. I am sorry 

 I cannot give any information concerning it in this county. 

 Pohjommahis Acis, the mazarine blue, is a rare butterfly, and 

 seems to be disappearing from places where it was once common. 

 It is found in meadows in a few of the midland counties, and 

 used to be taken on my old hunting ground in Gloucestershire, 

 Specimens taken there are still preserved, but I have never had the 

 good fortune to meet with it, and know of no capture there in 

 recent years, though in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham, some 

 twenty miles away, it is still taken. Polyommatus Arion, the large 

 blue, is another rarity. The same cabinet alluded to in my last 

 contains specimens of this insect also, taken near the same place, 



