98 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES 
margin is clouded with a row of dusky spots. The posterior wings are dusky at the base, and they are marked 
with about twelve small black spots, those towards the base of the wing being placed irregularly, but those near 
the middle placed in a series across the wing, each with a small patch of white below it, so as unitedly to form 
an interrupted white bar. Near the anal angle are a few orange spots, and the angle itself is rather acute, and has 
an emargination adjoining it. 
The caterpillar is pubescent, and of a dull green colour, with a pale yellow line on the back, and pale green 
streaks on the sides. It feeds on the golden rod, sharp dock (Rumex acutus), &c. | The chrysalis is brownish 
yellow with dusky red wing-covers. 
No specimens of this species having occurred for a great number of years, the claim of this insect to be regarded 
as indigenous has begun to be questioned. It has at all times been very rare. According to Lewin, 
two specimens of it were taken by himself in marshes; and Donovan states that one was once taken in 
Cambridge. The marshes in the Isle of Ely and Huntingdonshire are also stated as localities of this butterfly, 
which appears in the perfect state at the end of August. I possess a specimen given to me by the late Mr. 
Haworth as an undoubted native specimen. 


POLYOMMATUS,* Larreme (op. rEcENTIOR). 
( Polyommatus, Stephens ; Curtis ; Horsfield ; nee Boisduval. Argus, Geoffroy, Scopoli, Boisduval. Lycena, fam. A. Ochsenh. Fabricius.) 
Referring to the observations made under the genus Chrysophanus (pages 91 and 92), as to the close relation- 
ship existing between that genus and the present (which comprises the Blues of collectors), it will be sufficient in 
this place to observe that this genus is distinguished by having the upper surface of the wings generally of a blue 
colour, especially in the male, but occasionally brown in the females, with a row of fulvous spots near the outer 
margin; the under surface generally greyish with numerous ocelli, with black pupils surrounded by white irides. 
The antenne are filiform, and terminated by an abruptly-formed elongated compressed club terminating in a 
lateral point. The palpi are longer than the head, with the terminal joint naked and sharp. The fore legs have 
been described as alike in both sexes, but such is not the case (see ante, p. 81, note, and my Introd. to Mod. Class. 
of Ins., vol. il., p. 358, fig. 100. 12. 13). The tarsi are furnished with minute simple ungues extending beyond 
the minute pulvilli. The wings are entire and without tails, the posterior being scarcely denticulated at the 
inal angle. The larve are onisciform, with the head and feet very small and scarcely perceptible, the body laci- 
niate, the back elevated and generally beautifully coloured. The pupa is rather long, naked, and of a whitish 
colour, with some dusky spots on the back and sides. The species generally undergo their transformations on the 
stem of a plant, but occasionally beneath the surface of the earth. 
The genus extends all over Europe. Species are also found in the north of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, 
Madagascar, the Isles of France and Bourbon, the East Indies, and North America. Boisduval also mentions a 
species from New Ireland. I possess several species from New South Wales ; and Captain Ross brought one 
from the Arctic regions. Mr, Swainson, however, informs us that they are almost unknown in South America. 

oats, many, and dua, aneye, in allusion to the numerous ocelli on the under side of the wings of the genus. 
