102 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES 
where the holly abounds *. It is by no means uncommon, although certainly local. Some years ago it appeared 
for two consecutive years in my garden, at Hammersmith, where some hollies had then recently been planted, but 
I have not since seen it. Epping Forest, near Ripley, near Dartford, and various parts of Norfolk, Suffolk, 
Hants, and Devonshire, are recorded as its localities by Mr. Stephens. Not unfrequently near Newcastle, in places 
where hollies abound, and also in Castle Eden Dean, by Mr. Duncan. The Rev. W. T. Bree informs us it is 
common near Allesley in the early spring (as early as the middle of April), and that he has taken it in the Isle of 
Wight in Ae month of July. The middle of May and end of August are given as the times of its appearance by 
Haworth and Stephens, but the Rev. W. T. Bree states that it seems to be only single brooded near Allesley ; 
during the present season he has not, however, observed it in any of its usual localities near Coventry. In 
Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, Nos. 21, 23, 24, 27, 30, 65, and 66, are various communications relative 
to this butterfly chiefly connected with the question as to whether it is a single or double-brooded species. 
SPECIES 3.—POLYOMMATUS ACIS. THE MAZARINE BLUE BUTTERFLY. 
Plate xxxi. fig. 9—11. 
Synonymus.— Papilio Acis, Wiener Verz., Ernst. 1, pl. 42, fig 88, | Papilio Cymon, Lewin, Pap. pl. 38, f. 6, 7. Haworth: Jermyn. 
tad, Lycena Cymon, Leach ; Samouelle. 
Lycena Acis, Ochsenheimer. Papilio Argiolus, Esper. Schmett. t. 21, ‘f. 1. Hiibner Pap. 
Polyommatus Acis, Stephens ; Curtis ; Wood, Ind, Ent. t. 2,f.63. | p. 56, f. 267—9. 
Duncan, Brit. Butt. pl. 31, fig. 4. Papilio Semiargus, Borkhausen. 
Nomiades Acis, Hiibner (Verz. bek. Schmett. ) 
This very distinct species differs from the two preceding in the complete diversity in the colour of the upper 
surface of the wings of the two sexes, being blue in the male and dark brown in the female. The expansion of 
the wings is rather more or less than an inch and a quarter. The upper side of the wings, in the male, is of a 
dark-purplish blue, the costa of the fore wings with a very thin edging of white. The outer margin in all the 
wings is narrow and dark brown, which colour runs up into the wing along the veins; the fringe of all the wings 
is white. Beneath, the wings are of a pale greyish-brown, the base being saturated with blue; there is a slender 
transverse dark line at the extremity of the discoidal cell of each wing, beyond which is a curved row of irregular 
sized black spots, margined with white rings, there being sometimes as many as seven such spots on each wing ; 
that near the anal angle of the hind wings being minute and doubled; there are also sometimes one or two 
ocellated spots near the base, but the number of these spots is liable to considerable variation. All the wings 
have a very narrow outer marginal line of darker brown. 
The female differs from the male in having the upper side of all the wings dark brown, sometimes with a 
slight purplish irroration towards the base in both pair of wings. 
This rare species frequents chalky districts. The late Mr. Haworth gave Yorkshire and Norfolk as its 
localities, and Miss Jermyn, Sherborne, &c., Dorsetshire. Various parts of Cambridge, Hampshire, and 
Windlesham-heath, Surrey, are mentioned by Mr. Stephens. There are also some notices of this insect in the 
3st and 32nd Numbers of Loudon’s Magazine of Natural History, by the Rev. W. T. Bree, who informs us that 
he once took it in Coleshill Park, Warwickshire, also near Hinkley, Leicestershire ; other specimens have also 
been taken in Worcestershire. 
* It isa more restless and high-flying insect than any of the other Polyommati, hovering and vapouring about the trees and bushes. Mr. 
Bree also observes that it does not evince the same partiality for settling upon flowers and leaves of humble growth, as it does for settling on the 
leaves of the holly. 
