OBSERVATIONS ON POLYOMMATUS ASTRARCHE. 267 



not emerge till the end of June or beginning of July, 1906. For a 



species emerging so late in summer to reappear the same season seems 

 to me very remarkable, especially as I can recall no instance of a 

 single-brooded Cidariid bemg occasionally double -brooded. Now and 

 then the species begins to emerge about June 20th ; among my records 

 being Sevenoaks, June 21st, 1871, and Hazeleigh, June 19th, 1872; 

 but since the latter year I have never found it before the first week in 

 July. The earliest specimen on record is one taken by Mr. Harwood 

 at Hadleigh (Suffolk) on May 16th, 1903. 



I find this beautiful species in great demand among my corres- 

 pondents, the reason, no doubt, being that it seems to be confined to 

 the extreme south of England, extending, however, as far up as 

 Worcestershire in the southwest, and even having occurred at Conway 

 and Ruthin in Wales. The late Mr. C. G. Barrett, in his work on the 

 Lepiiloptera of the Brifish Ides, states that it has been taken in the 

 following English counties, viz., Berks, Bucks, Cornwall, Devon, 

 Dorset, Essex, Gloucester, Hants, Hereford, Kent, Norfolk, Oxon, 

 Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Wilts and Worcester. It will be 

 of great interest if any of your readers can add to this list. Herts, 

 Cambs, and Beds, seem likely to contain the species, which may be 

 easily overlooked, as it moves only in very hot weather and flies so fast 

 that it is by no means easy to capture. 



Observations on Polyommatus astrarche. 



By J. W. H. HAEEISON, B.Sc. 

 In spite of the title of these notes I must state that the observations 

 here detailed have chiefly been made upon P. var. (et ab.) arta.ver.ces and 

 P. ab. salwacii^. Upon the pairing habits of the insect, I have but one 

 observation and have trustworthy information from a friend of a pair 

 he saw in cop. This seems rather strange when I can say that I have 

 seen thousands of the species upon the wing. The pair, I saw and took, 

 were both P. var. artaxey.ces, and I found them in cop. on a flower- 

 head of PlantiKjo lanceolata, on August 10th, 1905, between 11 a.m. 

 and noon. The pair my friend took, were of the P. ab. aalmack form, and 

 he found them upon a head of the common marsh-thistle at the same 

 time of day, on July 15th, 1905. The females, when ovipositing, 

 behave in the usual manner of the Lyctenids, first resting on a leaf, 

 then moving about with their abdomen curved, and finally closing 

 their wings with a jerk when they have found a suitable place for the 

 ovum. I have previously stated, in the January number of The Entotn. 

 Record, that the ova are chiefly deposited upon the rosette of leaves 

 near the growing point of the rock-rose {HeUantkemum vnhiare). That 

 observation was made in Scotland upon a bleak portion of the Fife 

 coast, where the rock- rose was short and stunted. Having since spent 

 a considerable amount of time observing the species upon the Durham 

 coast, I have seen cause to modify my statement. In Durham, in the 

 many sheltered denes cutting through the Magnesian Limestone, the 

 rock-rose is of much freer growth, and there, I have found quite as 

 many ova upon the leaves near the base of the stem, as upon the leaves 

 near the top. In July, this year, I spent many hours searching for 

 ova of /'. ab. saliiiacis, and found several upon black knapweed 

 (Centatiira nujra). I was greatly interested in this, and when I 



