5i Transactions. 



blue at the inner and lower angles, and near the margins. 

 The painting of the under surface of the wings is quite 

 beyond my power to describe them. There is, in addition to 

 the scarlet bands, a series of fine blue spots on the upper 

 wings. The lower are all covered with a most intricate em- 

 }:roidery of indescribable tints ; all kinds of browns, and 

 greys, and blacks, with metallic tints, are blended together 

 with magic effect. 



The species comes out early in August, and may be met 

 with till late in October. It is found in all parts of Britain, as 

 well as over Europe, and on the districts bordering the Medi- 

 terranean ; it is also found in the United States of America. 

 Parties well skilled in mythology will remember that ata- 

 lanta was a young lady so swift of foot that she could run 

 over the sea without splashing her ankles, or on the corn 

 fields without bending an .ear of corn under her weight. 

 Some poetical entomologists have named it the swift-footed 

 atalanta. The genus Thecla contains a group of very 

 elegant butterflies. Five species are alloted to this genus, but 

 only two are found in Scotland — Thecla quercus and Thecla 

 Tuhi. Quercus is found at Comlongan and Dalscairth ; rubi 

 is found at Tinwald Downs, Dalscairth, and Jardine Hall. 

 This group is very easily distinguished from the other butter- 

 flies by the tail-like projection on the lower edge of the hind 

 wing. T. rubi has this so very slightly developed that you can 

 scarcely observe it. They are all best distinguished by the 

 •characters on the under surface of the wings ; they all bear 

 a more or less distinct hair-like streak, which gives them the 

 common name Hair-streak. Thecla quercus is the hand- 

 somest of the genus. The Tnale has all the wings in certain 

 lio-hts of a dark brown colour, but by a change of position 

 they become illuminated with a deep rich purple tint, nearly 

 extending over the whole surface, -except a very narrow 

 border, which then appears black. The female has the 

 purple much more vivid, but more confined to a small 

 patch, extending only from the root to the centre of the 

 front wings. The Avings beneath are shaded with greyish 



