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II. On Callophrys avis, C%p'm. By T. A. Chapman, 
M.D., F.Z.S. 
[Read November 17th, 1909.] 
Plates XIV—XLIII. 
It is a remarkable circumstance that this very interesting 
and pretty butterfly should have remained quite unknown 
until so late a date as this, a species somewhat widely 
distributed, occurring in France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco 
(probably Algeria) * and Tunis. It is not a matter of dis¬ 
tinguishing or establishing a species previously confounded 
with another or regarded as a mere variety, but a species 
of which so far as I have been able to ascertain, only some 
half-dozen specimens, beyond my own capture.s, exist in 
collections, and of these, three, I think, were captured in 
the present year. The species, as observed by me, is 
extremely localised in each habitat, and this is no doubt 
true throughout its whole distribution. 
One circumstance about the specimens of C. avis that I 
have ascertained to exist in collecbons is somewhat striking, 
that is, that they all or nearly all are solitary specimens, 
each from a different locality. My two HyO'es specimens 
were taken in two different years at two different places. 
Then there is one from Tangier in the British Museum, 
one taken by Prof. Reverdin on the Riviera, one taken by 
Mr. Rowntree at Bussaco, one by Prof. Tavares at Jerez, and 
M. Oberthiir’s specimens (two, not one) from Tunisia. But 
that my curiosity about the insect had been aroused, there 
would probably have been a further one from AmMie-les- 
Bains. 
The explanation is, I think, simple. Most collectors 
more or less ignore C. rnhi as beneath their notice, 
o ^ ' 
perhaps pick up half-a-dozen. C. ruli has habitats by 
the square mile. Tlie habitats of C. avis may usually, I 
imagine, be measured by acres, or even yards. In picking 
up his half-dozen G. ruhi, he may happen to pick up an 
odd specimen of C. avis, but before he captures another, 
* Under date November 24th, M. Oberthiir tells me that Mr, H, 
Powell took two (^s at Khenchela (Province of Constantine). 
TRANS, ENT. SOC. LOND. 1910.— PART IL (JUNE) 
