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GENUS POLYOMMATUS. 



DISTINGUISHED from the two preceding genera 

 by having the wings entire, without any tail-like ap- 

 pendages, and without any distinct teeth near the 

 anal angle. The antennae are rather short, and ter- 

 minate in an abrupt compressed club, ending in a 

 narrow point rising from one side. The palpi pro- 

 ject a little beyond the head, are nearly parallel, and 

 have the basal and terminal joints almost of equal 

 length, the latter acute, and somewhat naked, or co- 

 vered with scales only, the others being clothed 

 with scales and hairs. The tarsi terminate in 

 simple claws. This genus includes all the small blue 

 butterflies, which are seen in such numbers during 

 the summer months in pastures and grassy glades. 

 They are adorned on the surface with the most de- 

 licate and varied shades of blue and azure, and be- 

 neath with a multitude of eye-like spots. It is this 

 latter circumstance that has suggested the generic 

 name, it being formed from the Greek words 7rAwf, 

 many, and SfcpMnw, eyes. In most of them the sexes 

 are dissimilar in colour; but in P. aslus, agestis, 

 and Artaxerxes, the sexual differences are not so 

 strongly marked. The larva? of several of the species 

 are not known, but most of those with which we are 

 acquainted feed on grasses and herbaceous plants, on 

 which also they undergo their metamorphoses. 



