32 
carefully removed the scales from the under surface of my “‘ blues,” 
and found not a single battledore. Having placed a wing upper 
side downwards on a glass side, to enable me to search over the 
wing, I found after a long-continued search, that a considerable 
number of scales detached from the upper surface of the wing, were 
upon my glass slide; focussing down to these I found battledores in 
plenty, but not exactly like those figured in the books. I then 
realized this fact, that battledores were to be found on the upper 
surface of the wings of Polyomanatus, or as it is now called 
Lycena alewxis, differing in form from those figured as obtained 
from L. argiolus. This led me to try whether I could find battle- 
dore scales on other blues than L. alevis the common blue, or 
L. argiolus the azure blue; for to those unacquainted with such 
differences among blues, I should mention that we have in England 
nine different species of blues, such as the common, azure, clifden 
mazarine, chalk-hill, silver-studded, large blue, little blue, and long- 
tailed blue. Through the kindness of an Entomological friend, I 
secured examples of nearly all, and found, strangely enough, battle- 
dore scales on the upper surface of both wings in some cases, and 
not in others. It turned out that the insects on which I had been 
unable to find battledores were females, while those on which I had 
found them were males. ‘This caused me to make a critical exami- 
nation of the blue family generally, and I then found the two facts, 
the battledores were found on the upper sides of the wings of the 
males only and in rows beneath the ordinary scales, and at their 
intervals of overlapping. I should mention that among the blues, 
the males only are of a deep blue colour, the females generally are 
of a brownish blue and a few blue scales, and this may have led to 
the assertion that battledore scales were found on the blues. It is 
true some females adorn themselves with so great a profusion that 
they simulate the garb of the males, much in the same way as-the 
erstwhile ‘‘ weaker sex’ among humanity, since the ery of woman’s 
rights has been raised, assume the get up and garments of the lords 
of creation; but on no female, however highly coloured, have I 
been able to find battledores. Since then I have had the opportu- 
nity of examining many foreign and tropical blues, and in each ease, 
even where the female assimilated closely in colour to the male, only 
on the male, and invariably on the upper surface and in rows be- 
neath the ordinary scales, have I found battledores. As might be 
expected, these battledores differ in size and shape, the blade is 
longer or broader in some than others relatively, the top is more or 
less rounded or squared, while the length of the pedicle also varies, 
so that when two species of blues resemble each other very closely 
in their markings, the shape and size of the battledores might be 
used as a ready means of settling species. There are species among 
the Lycenide in which neither males nor females are blue or bluish 
in colour, and, curiously, among these, no single example of a male 
