LVCAKXIXAi: ; KVKKl'.S (OMYNTAS. 911 



curate iletenniuatiun rogaiding this, .siiicu in tlic case of any particular 

 species we are obliged to base our conclusions on observations of" tlie times 

 when the earliest butterflies were scni, wiuii ihcy liecauie most abimdant, 

 when the numbers pei'ccptil)ly diminisiied, or specimens became old and 

 worn, and when the last were seen. It is particularly difficult to decide 

 upon the average age of individuals, when, as is not infre(|ucntly the 

 case, a brood of l)uttcrflies is augmented by gradual accretions for a long 

 period of time, three, four or five weeks. It is again difficidt in the case 

 of tlioso butterffics. and there are not a few of them, like some of our 

 Argynnidi, whii'li appear u|Hin llie wing in mid-suunncr, receive a sud- 

 den accession to their nund)ers a mouth or two after the advent of the 

 earliest and then only begin to lay their eggs. I, for one, can hardly 

 believe that all these earliest individuals perish before the season for egg 

 laying, and I even think from the condition of specimens, worse and worse 

 as the season progresses, that some of the earliest live to the last and are 

 upon the wing sometimes for two and three months of the year. 



•»*See a imperon the subject by W. H. Edwards (Can. eiit., xiii: 20r)-14). 



EVERES COMYNTAS.— The tailed blue. 



[Tlie least blue butterfly (Abbot); Coniyiitnj butterfly (Harris); tailed blue (Scudder).] 



Polyommntus comynlas God., Kiieycl. Cvpido comi/itlas Kirb., Syu. eatal. Lep., 



mtt\)., ix: GOS. 660 (1S19) ;— D'Urbaii, Can. 356(1871). 



nat., v: 246 (1860) ;— Jlorr., Syn. Lep. N. Plebeiiifi comyntas Kirb., Syii. catalhep., 



Amer., 83 (1862):— Harr., Ins. inj veg., 3d 653(1871). 



ed., 275 (1862) ; Eutoni. corresp., 275 (1869) . Ereres comyntas Seudd., Syst. rev. Amer. 



Argus comyntaa Boisd.-LeC, L^p. Am^r. butt.. 35 (1872); Butt., 130, 152, 308, fig. 125 



sept., 120-121, pi. 36, tig.s. 6-9 (1833). (1881). 



Lycaena comyntas Doubl., List Lep. Brit. rapilin Abb., Draw. ins. Ga., Brit. 



nius., ii: 43-44 (1847) ;— Edw., Can. cut., viii : JIns., xvi : 58, tab. 242 (ea. 1800). 



203-205 (1876);— Middl., Rep. ins. III., x: 9.-1-96 Figured also by Abbot, Draw. ins. Ga., 



(1881);— Fern., Butt. Me., 93-95, fig. 32 (1884);— Oemler coll., Bost. soc. nat. hist. 16;— Glover, 



French. Bu«. east. U. S., 292-294, flg. 81 (1886) ; III. N. A. Lep., pi. 2, tig. 3; pi. 9. fig. 11; pi. 26, 



— Mayn., Butt. N. E.. 40. pi. 5, figs. .50, .50a fig. 3; pi. 27, figs. 6, 9, lOV; pi. 28, figs. 9, 11; 



(1886). pK F, tig. 7, ined. 



. . . Sylphe a<?rien. si splendide, et si leste. 

 Qui s'eniblait voltiger en vingt lieux a la fois. 



POMJiiF.R.— i,e Papillon-Espoir. 

 Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, . . . 

 Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art; 

 They draw but what tluy see, know not the heart. 

 Shakespeare.— /SorereeJ. 



Imago (6 : 9, 10 ; 14 : 2). Head covered with black scales with a distinct bordej of 

 white around the whole eye excepting next the antennae and just behind them; the 

 edging, however, is carried along the inner side of the antennae aud there are a very 

 few white scales on the outer portion of the basal antenna! joint; lower half of the 

 sides wholly wliite; basal and middle joint of ibejialpi white, thelatterwliolly blackish 

 brown above and on the apical fourtb of the outer side; apical joint blackish brown. 



