83 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



insects had been observed by me, more than once, flying together. 

 The hellargus in each instance were of the second brood. Now 

 what has happened at one place may reasonably be expected, 

 under similar conditions, to occur at another place ; and I cannot 

 see why hellargus should not be contemporary (in certain years) 

 with corydon in Kent, as well as in the Isle of Wight. 



As far as I know, the sterility of a cross between hellargus 

 and corydon has not been demonstrated. Have we any proof 

 that the pairing of icarus and hellargus is, as regards progeny, 



inoperative ? 



Lyccsna hylas, Esp. 



dorylas, Hiib. 



" Fringes of all the wings white. Male bright blue, with a 

 narrow brown hind marginal border ; along the hind margin of 

 the hind wings is a row of not very distinct brown spots. The 

 female, above, very closely resembles that of L. icarus, but the 

 wings are darker brown, the orange band on the fore wings less 

 distinct, and the white marginal fringe broader. Beneath, the 

 wings somewhat resemble those of L. icarus var. icarinus (the 

 fore wings having no basal spot). It differs, however, in having 

 the orange bands paler and less distinct, in the greater size of 

 the black spots on the fore wings, and in having the discoidal 

 spot on the hind wings white, without any, or with a very 

 minute, central dot." — ' Rhopalocera Europse,' p. 122. 



Male. — The description of male hylas, as given above, applies 

 very well to some Swiss examples of the species in my collection, 

 except perhaps as regards the liind-niarginal border and spots; 

 these, I should say, are black rather than brown. In some 

 specimens from the neighbourhood of Vienna the border is 

 brown, but the blue colour of the wings has something of a green 

 tint. One of the Swiss examples is a beautiful " peacock-blue " ; 

 this specimen and another from the same locality have no trace 

 of black spots on the margins of hind wings. 



Female. — The females from Vienna are dark brown, but not 

 darker than female icarus from Saxony, or even some Isle of 

 Wight specimens. The orange crescents on the fore wings of a 

 few examples from Switzerland and Vienna are quite as distinct 

 as in certain English and Swiss icarus. 



Under surface. — The most striking under side character of 

 hylas is the coloration, which varies in the male from pale grey or 



