241 



SILVER- STUDDED BLUE BUTTERFLY. 



Polyommatus Argus. 



PLATE XXXIII. Fig. 3. 



Pap. Argus, Linn. — Lewin, pi. 39. fig. 5-7. — Silver-studded 

 Blue, Harris — $ Pap. Idas, Linn. — Polyom. Argus, Jer- 

 mya, Steph. 



Male deep blue above, inclining to lilac, with a 

 broad black band round the hinder margin of all the 

 wings, the nervures likewise more or less of that co- 

 lour ; the costa and fringe white, the latter occa- 

 sionally obscured with brown at the base. The un- 

 der side is bluish-grey, the blue becoming more in- 

 tense at the base, adorned with numerous ocellated 

 spots ; on the hinder margin of the posterior wings 

 there is an interrupted orange-tawny band, contain- 

 ing six bright silvery-blue spots, crowned with a 

 series of black crescents. The female is entirely 

 brown above, with a tawny marginal band, which is 

 obsolete on the interior wings. 



The caterpillar is dull green, with the head and 

 legs blackish, a ferruginous line along the back, and 

 oblique ones of the same colour, bordered with 

 white, on the sides. It feeds on broom, sainfoin 

 and various kinds of trefoil. The butterfly is rather 



